Izumi Academy For Gifted Young Wizards
by 1wildrose1
Summary: When Ryou first got his scholarship to a private magic school, it seemed that all he had to deal with was a new form of magic - but soon he has to contend with unforeseen problems, from romance to wing rivalries to something altogether more sinister...
1. My New Life

**All redone and upgraded slightly. Enjoy.**

**1wildrose1 .. x**

_**Rating:**_ NC-17  
_**Pairing (s):**_ Bakura/Ryou, Marik/Malik, Yami/Yugi.  
_**Spoilers:**_ Marik's plan in Battle City I guess...  
_**Disclaimer:**_ I don't own Yugioh or any of the characters...sadface...  
_**Summary:**_ I never thought that Izumi Academy would change me so much - I mean, who would have thought that I, of all people, would fall for a guy? And all of these things that have been happening...if I didn't know better, I'd swear someone was out to kill me!

_**Warnings:**_ Shounen-ai (Male/male relationships), Yaoi (Male/male sexual relationships – though there will be forewarning of the chapters that contain the explicit stuff), Language, plus if you see it as a warning, OOC-ness.

Yami Marik = Marik, Marik = Malik, Yami Bakura = Bakura, Bakura = Ryou.

_**Chapter One – My New Life**_

Today, I start at a new school. Izumi Academy, it's called. Before, I just attended a normal public magic school, but, a few weeks ago, my father helped me apply for a scholarship and I got it; I'm now a student at a private wizardry school! It's a shame that they don't accept witches, but, I suppose, it's easier this way. It's not as though I was popular with the girls anyway. I mean, who would want me? With my ghost-pale skin and white hair; I have eyes the colour of mud. Yuck.

Anyway, I drove my Land Rover down the huge pebble road toward the colossal castle-like building that was the academy. On either side of the brown-orange road were gigantic stretches of brilliantly green grass and tall evergreens and pines; a wooden shed, that was, presumably, for the gamekeeper's tools, was perched at the edge of a vast, smooth lake. At the side of the main entrance was a car park where I parked alongside a sleek red sports car; I've never had a clue about car's names or which one was better that which, but I do know that that one was a _nice_ car.

I trudged up the stone steps toward the main entrance doors and pushed them open. A tall, strict-looking man with a strong jaw, a clean-shaven chin and poofy black hair stood there tapping a golden stop watch attached to a chain producing from his robe pocket; he had a silver eyeglass in his left eye.

"Your late, boy!" He barked in a deep, croaking voice."That does not bode well on your first day here at Izumi!"

I blinked and placed my large suitcases on the ground to offer my hand to the man,"Sorry, Professor. I'm Ryou Bakura. Traffic was a nightmare."

The man grasped my hand firmly and used his eyeglass to examine it closely. Letting it go, he replaced the eyeglass and glanced back at my bewildered self before him.

"You have a weak handshake, Bakura. Very weak." He cocked his head to the side and regarded me again."A couple of weeks in with your new wand and you will have a nice strong grip."

My eyes widened,"A w-wand?" The man nodded,"But, I've only ever practised raw palm magic!"

"Well, here, we concentrate our magic into a wand with a specific core." He smirked,"It's a lot more controlled and powerful."

"Oh..." A wand! Jesus, that's going to get some getting used to. I find raw palm magic so much easier. Oh, if you're wondering, the crazy guy is the headmaster: Professor Tatsuya.

"Well, we can't have you dawdling around here!" He slapped a piece of paper in my hand,"Go and unpack! Everyone else is in their last lesson, so you can use this hour to settle in and sort out the forms in your room. Your room number is on that piece of paper. I have a school to run, so I shall see you later, Bakura."

With that said, he went up in a cloud of baby pink smoke and disappeared. "Show off."

It took me absolutely ages to drag my suitcases to room 2116. Seriously, thirteen floors and no elevator. Mad. Well, I finally arrived at floor twelve in the west wing at the dark wood door with brass numbers '2116' nailed on it. I put the small key, that had been attached to the piece of paper as well, into the little brass lock and turned it to open the door. The room, once revealed, took my breath away! It was _huge_; well, big on a bedroom scale. All of the wood inside was as dark as the door. Opposite the door was a double, four-poster bed with an emerald green comforter with a folded over bit at the top the colour of cream; the sheet and pillows were also the same cream colour. The wallpaper and carpet were just plain emerald with the bottom half of the walls panelled with wood. On the right side of the room were a large wardrobe and chest of drawers; on the left was a wood-framed fireplace with cream marble on the inside, above which was an antique, ornamental cuckoo clock. A large, cream rug was in the middle of the room; next to the chest of draws were French-doors covered with thin cream curtains that opened to a small private balcony. At the end of the bed was an emerald chaise lounge.

"Wow."

I dragged my suitcases to the chest of draws and unpacked all of my casual, weekend clothes and underwear; I then tacked my poster of the West Ham football team to a wall and hung up pictures of me, my family and my friends up on the various hooks on the walls and set some on the fireplace shelf and chest of draws. All of my treats were stored in my navy-blue mini-fridge. I also found Lexxi a home on the pillows; Lexxi is my old, scruffy brown teddy with one eye missing and a few stained patches of fur, but I still love her; I've had her since I was a baby. My mother named her. I put my mobile phone on charge and put my now-empty suitcases in the bottom of the wardrobe.

On the chaise lounge was a small stack of paper that seemed to be forms, a pile of new robes, shirts and trousers and a large, round metal scanner-like device with a small bit of paper on it. I walked up to it and picked up the device to read the paper: 'Mr Bakura. This is a cordiactior; it calculates the core that your new wand will need. Please place your most functional hand on the shiny surface and wait ten seconds to then remove your hand.'

"O...kay..." Seeing as I'm right-handed, I placed my right hand on the shiny bit of the cordiactior and used the cuckoo clock to time the ten seconds; I then removed my hand and nearly screamed over what happened next. Brown smoke erupted around the device as it slowly melted into a long, thin stick-like shape; when it stopped the small bit of paper's words changed to 'Mr. Ryou Bakura: Wand: 7 inches, Mahogany. Core: Tail-hair of a Daemon.' "Woah." I blinked at my new wand."That was weird."

I put my want on my bed and hung my new uniforms in the wardrobe before filling out the forms; they were basically asking what classes I wanted to take and whether I want to dine in my room or in the hall. I chose to eat in the hall; it would give me a chance to meet new people, right? Well, anyway, when I filled in the class forms, they merged together and turned into my timetable:

Monday: P.E, Flying, BREAK, Potions, History of Magic, LUNCH, Ancient Runes.

Tuesday: Ancient Runes, Charms, BREAK, Foreseeing, Transfiguration, LUNCH, Magical Model Making.

Wednesday: Telepathy, Foreseeing, BREAK, Potions, Ancient Runes, LUNCH, Flying.

Thursday: Transfiguration, Flying, BREAK, P.E, Potions, LUNCH, Magical Model Making.

Friday: Telepathy, Charms, BREAK, Charms, History of Magic, LUNCH, Transfiguration.

Well, it looked like it was a good lot. I was especially looking forward to Magical Model Making. Just then, loud clangs were sounded, signalling the end of class. I wonder what kind of people are residing on the west wing too...


	2. The Newbie

_**Rating:**_ NC-17  
_**Pairing (s):**_ Bakura/Ryou, Marik/Malik, Yami/Yugi.  
_**Spoilers:**_ Marik's plan in Battle City I guess...  
_**Disclaimer:**_ I don't own Yugioh or any of the characters...sadface...  
_**Summary:**_ I never thought that Izumi Academy would change me so much - I mean, who would have thought that I, of all people, would fall for a guy? And all of these things that have been happening...if I didn't know better, I'd swear someone was out to kill me!

_**Warnings:**_ Shounen-ai (Male/male relationships), Yaoi (Male/male sexual relationships – though there will be forewarning of the chapters that contain the explicit stuff), Language, plus if you see it as a warning, OOC-ness.

Yami Marik = Marik, Marik = Malik, Yami Bakura = Bakura, Bakura = Ryou.

_**Chapter Two – The Newbie**_

"Ah! Finally!" A tall, lavender eyed, tanned, blonde boy sighed. Small, black tattoos were underneath each eye,"Friday's Transfiguration is always a nightmare."

"You got that right, Malik." Another tall blonde agreed. He looked almost the same as the other, but his hair was spikier and his eyes were violet with no markings under them,"At least your hamster looked remotely like a duck after the spell. Mine just looked like a pig with wings."

"Shut it, Marik." A medium hight albino that looked like Ryou with skilfully messy hair, alabaster skin and coco-coloured eyes snapped.

"What's the matter with you, Bakura?" Another boy asked politely. He was short and had star-shaped hair coloured dark purple and black; his fringe was a cluster of blonde bangs and his eyes were amethyst.

"That's simple to answer, Yugi. He's just pissed because his hamster went so badly wrong that it was no longer identifiable as a mammal." This boy was slightly taller than the last but was still very short and he also looked a lot like the previous boy but he had crimson eyes and scarlet in his hair instead of purple; some of his blonde bangs set against the black.

"Shut the hell up, Yami." The boy called Bakura growled. Yes his hamster ended up looking like a cross between a bat and a newt, but it wasn't his fault his wand was on the fritz."My wand is going dodgy and you bloody well know it. Anyway, it looks as though we have a new neighbour."

The other four boys looked in the direction that Bakura was. The door of room 2116 had light pooling from under it, signalling that someone had lit the lamps in the room; it does get quite gloomy in a castle. A small plaque had appeared on the door underneath the number saying 'Mr. Ryou Bakura : Daemon Tail Hair.'

"Daemon? Wow, this kid must be powerful." Yami stated.

"Power? Ha!" Malik giggled,"His last name is Bakura, how good can he be?"

"Hey!" Bakura growled,"Bakura, if you must know, actually means Skilful."

"And Malik means king, but I see no crown on my babe's pretty head." Marik drawled with his arms around Malik's waist. The latter blonde leaded back into his boyfriend's chest with a smug smirk upon his flawless features.

"How 'bout we get to meet him now?" Yugi suggested quietly. The others nodded in agreement.

"Let's get changed first, koi." Yami muttered to Yugi, grabbing his hand.

"Okay."

The five boys headed to their separate rooms to change. When they were done, they met up out in the hall outside Ryou's room again. Now with no bag and in casual clothes, Marik stepped forward and knocked on the door. "Hey, newbie! Welcoming committee!"

"Just a sec!" Ryou's voice came from inside the room.

"Ooh, he's British." Yugi giggled,"You and he will get on well, Bakura."

Bakura's eyelids were half closed in an unamused glare. "Hilarious."

"Ow! God damn it!" The five outside blinked at the curse coming from the room."Sorry! I'll be there in a second." They heard various bangs and thuds and a few 'ow!' s before footsteps approached the door and it was pulled open. Bakura's eyes widened at the boy before him; he was gorgeous! He had porcelain white skin, soft snowy-white hair and eyes the colour of the smoothest chocolate; he looked a lot like himself, but, in Bakura's opinion, so much more beautiful. "Hi! I'm Ryou!" He flashed an adorable smile,"Come in!"

The five boys entered the large emerald room and sat on the bed."I'd say make yourself at home, but you seem to have done so already." Ryou laughed closing the door.

"So, Ryou," Yami started,"I'm Yami. This is Yugi, Marik, Malik and," Yami smirked,"Bakura."

"Nice to meet you all." Ryou smiled around at the boys; his eyes widened when he noticed Bakura; he looked exactly like him! Save the scruffy, backstreet boy look. He nervously laughed,"My last name is Bakura."

"We know." Ryou glanced at...Yugi, he thought his name was?"When you move into a room, a plaque with your name on appears."

"Oh." Ryou furrowed his eyebrows. These boys seemed awfully nice; he had only just met them too! And that Bakura was kind of cute...No! Bad Ryou! He wasn't gay! Yeah, he might be good looking, but Ryou liked women! Right?

"What was with the thuds and 'ow's before you opened the door?" Bakura asked.

"Oh, um..."Ryou blushed darkly, making Bakura's stomach flip at the cuteness,"I was trying to get the hang of my new wand. I've only ever used raw palm magic before."

"Wow! Really? You've _never_ used a wand before?" Bakura wanted to throttle Marik for being so rude to the kawaii boy before them.

"No. I was at a public school before I got a scholarship to here."

"Cool." Malik nodded,"I'm the same. Got in about five months ago. These four paid and have been here all of this year." The four mentioned nodded.

Yugi looked around curiously."I like the pictures. They your mum and dad?"

Ryou's face suddenly turned sad as he slowly nodded."What's the matter?" Bakura inquired, not liking this irresistible expression on his pretty little fascination.

"Nothing...it happened a long time ago so it shouldn't bother me now..."

"What?"

"My mother and sister died in a car crash when I was eight."

An awkward silence fell as the other five exchanged glances. They didn't want to upset Ryou this soon! And now Bakura felt horrible about pursuing Ryou's sadness.

"Sorry," Yugi squeaked,"for bringing it up."

Ryou shook his head and forced a smile,"What's past is past. Anyway, what subjects do you take?"

The rest of the afternoon was fairly pleasant and the boys avoided the subject of family. They all seemed to have different time tables but they all had P.E, Flying, Potions, Transfiguration and Charms together, Bakura and Ryou had Magical Model Making together and Ryou and Malik had History of Magic and Ancient Runes together; the other subjects were either on at other times or Ryou was the only one taking them. They seemed to get on really well and they snacked on Ryou's food in the mini-fridge and chatted about themselves. Soon it became dark and the other's had to leave for their own rooms they did promise to show Ryou around the next day though before they separated.

As he entered his own, cocoa-brown, room, Bakura sighed and threw himself on the bed, laying his right forearm over his forehead; this newbie was different to any others that had come and gone from the west wing...this year was going to be eventful.


	3. North, South, East and Best

_**Rating:**_ NC-17  
_**Pairing (s):**_ Bakura/Ryou, Marik/Malik, Yami/Yugi.  
_**Spoilers:**_ Marik's plan in Battle City I guess...  
_**Disclaimer:**_ I don't own Yugioh or any of the characters...sadface...  
_**Summary:**_ I never thought that Izumi Academy would change me so much - I mean, who would have thought that I, of all people, would fall for a guy? And all of these things that have been happening...if I didn't know better, I'd swear someone was out to kill me!

_**Warnings:**_ Shounen-ai (Male/male relationships), Yaoi (Male/male sexual relationships – though there will be forewarning of the chapters that contain the explicit stuff), Language, plus if you see it as a warning, OOC-ness.

Yami Marik = Marik, Marik = Malik, Yami Bakura = Bakura, Bakura = Ryou.

_**Chapter Three – North, South, East And The Best**_

The next morning beckoned a vibrant array of colours to dance across the horizon; a canvas of gold, blue and dusty pink. Sweet-smelling warm air floated through the open balcony window of Ryou Bakura's bedroom, making the thin curtains drift lazily. Said boy softly awoke from his peaceful slumber to appreciate all of these spectacular features of an Izumi Academy morning. The birds chirped cheerfully in the gardens and the lake's contents rippled gently in the light breeze. The slender albino sat up, rubbing his eyes of left over weariness, and glanced at his bed-side digital clock; it was almost 6am. He rolled his eyes at the impossibility of _him_ getting up this early; on a Saturday of all days!

"Breakfast will be served in the lower dining area in twenty minutes. All students eating down there should now get dressed and make their way downstairs."

Ryou jumped slightly at the metallic-sounding voice that had just spoken as if from nowhere and blinked rapidly; was this why he had woken up? He shrugged and pulled on a blue and white striped t-shirt and jeans and slipped his wand into his back pocket before leaving his bedroom to search for the lower dining area. To his surprise, and relief, he found Malik and Yugi already outside their doors. Yugi looked up and grinned in his cute, infectious way. "You going to publicly eat too?"

Ryou nodded and smiled back, "I'm so glad you are too. I have no idea where the lower dining area is." The albino looked around curiously, "Hey, where are Bakura, Yami and Marik?"

Malik laughed a little, "Your accent is really cute, y'know?" He shook his head with his ever-present smirk, "As for the three stooges, they eat in their own rooms because they are socially challenged and have no other friends than us."

Ryou had to laugh at that. He shook his head and followed the other two downstairs and through a maze-like collection of hallways. By the time they reached their destination, twenty minutes had definitely passed. The double doors opened up into a huge plus(+)-shaped room, with five tables inside; one long one in each arm of the plus and a large round table in the centre where the teachers were sitting. All of the tables were only half to a quarter full of dining students. Malik and Yugi went straight to the left arm table and sat down, beckoning Ryou there, where he sat opposite them. "So, why'd you sit here and not any other table?"

Malik and Yugi stared at him with disbelief on their features; Malik was the one to answer him, "It's the west table." Ryou raised his eyebrows and silently asked them to elaborate. "Well, we live in the west wing, so we eat on the west table. It's the same for the North, East and South wings."

Yugi shook his head and shuddered, "Don't even talk about the East wing. God, it's hard enough to ignore them normally, without talking about them too."

"Why?" Ryou inquired at the normally polite boy's now poisonous tone, "What's wrong with the East wing?"

The spiky-haired boy answered him again with an equally vicious snap to his voice, "What's right with them? Take my advise and stay away from them; they're bad news."

Malik rolled his eyes and nibbled at his butter and strawberry-jam spread toast, "You're just sour at them because Otogi dumped you last year."

"Either way."

Malik sucked unconsciously at a crust as he regained his infamous smirk, "Ry...it's okay to call you Ry, right?" Ryou nodded and motioned for him to continue, "Ry, the only person from there that you need to avoid is Seto. He's a one-way, self-loving, pompous little knob and you'd do well to curse his bastard ass at every chance you get."

Yugi giggled mischievously, "Now who's being sour?"

"Me and Seto were totally different than you and Otogi."

Ryou frowned in confusion, "Seto? Otogi?" He glanced between the two boys in-front of him, "Who are they and what happened between you?"

Yugi piped up again in his strangely immature voice, "Well the scum named Otogi is over there," He pointed at the East table at a pretty, black-haired boy with brilliantly green eyes and high cheek-bones. He was laughing along with a spiky-haired teen beside him, "I dated him last year. He dumped me for that ignoramus Honda."

Ryou nodded, guessing that the spiky-haired guy was Honda, "And Seto?"

Yugi answered him again, "Seto eats in his room, but you'll see him in class. He does Magical Model Making too." Ryou noticed that Malik had tensed and was pointedly glaring at the milk jug on the table, "He and Malik went out with each other while Malik was at public school. Seto has always been in private schools because he's rich, famous and good-looking; three factors you need to impress people..."

"Unfortunately, he has no social skills." Ryou glanced at Malik who had just spoken, "The prick dumped me as soon as I got a scholarship here. He said that he had to keep a good reputation among his fellow students and having a gay relationship in plain public view would hinder that." Malik scowled viciously and violently whacked his half-eaten toast down on his china plate, "Complete and utter bullshit. He got what he wanted and left me to stew in the shit he had created."

Yugi looked dumbfounded, "I haven't heard this part before."

Ryou spoke up, "Well, what did he want?"

Malik shook his head, "Don't worry." He pushed his plate away from himself, "You two done yet?"

The two of them nodded but Ryou found something a bit too weird to ignore, "But, you've only eaten half a slice of toast."

The blond shrugged and raised from the table to lead the other two into the grounds. They walked to the lake and sat against a large-trunked tree facing the calm, glassy surface. No other students were out yet so it was just the three of them. Malik had calmed down a lot and was back to his usual, naughty self. "So, Ry," Ryou looked up at the blond who had just addressed him, "You like Bakura, eh?"

The albino sat bolt-upright in 'outrage', "What!" He coughed and shook his head, "I'm not gay and I barely know him."

Yugi laughed, "I wasn't gay until I came here." He twitched his eyebrows in amusement, "An all boys school kind of does that. If you're not gay, you can't get any for years."

"'Get any'?"

Malik snorted, "Yeah, Ry, 'get any'." His eyes widened slightly in realisation, "You do know what that means, right?"

"Uh..." In truth, Ryou had no idea. He had grown up with an over-protective father that had disallowed any 'inappropriate' objects, TV channels, films, books, magazines; he was finally allowed to mingle with other children when he was discovered to have a magical gift and entered to a public magic school. All of their jokes and innuendos were completely misunderstood by him and so he only knew the raw basics about anything sexual.

Malik laughed and shook his head, "Oh my god, we're not going to to have to explain the birds and the bees, are we?" Ryou shrugged and Malik just smiled understandingly and started a very uncomfortable conversation that should really not be a friend's job to start; it was full of innocent and awkward questions from Ryou, blushing from Malik and nervous giggling from Yugi. By the end, Ryou was blushing at his naïvety and he now knew all that Malik and Yugi knew about sex.

"Anyway," Malik began, "You didn't answer my question about Bakura. Don't even say that you're not gay because I've seen the way you look at him. Plus," Malik grinned evilly, "Bakura's hot."

Ryou blushed heavily and glanced around for any other students, "Well...he is quite good looking..."

Yugi cackled suddenly and patted Ryou on the back, "Yeah! We've converted you!"

"No! I mean...I don't know..."

Malik shook his head, "Yugi, leave it." He smiled up at Ryou, "You're really cute y'know, Ry."

Yugi grinned wickedly, "What have you got planed, Malik?"

**XxXxXxXxXxX**

Marik flopped down on his crimson-coloured bedding and watched as his breakfast plate was magicked away on its own. Yami sat in an equally crimson armchair and Bakura stared out of the balcony window at a tree beside the lake; more specifically, at a beautiful British boy sitting against the tree...

Marik, who had noticed his childhood friend's strange behaviour, smirked, "He's cute y'know."

Bakura jumped a little and wheeled around to glare at his spiky-haired friend, "Who's cute?"

"The newbie that you have been staring at for the past twenty minutes like a little lost puppy."

"Have not!"

Marik smirked at the albino's instant defensiveness. "Bakura, I know you better than anyone. Plus," He stood up and walked up to the window, "You have been staring at him: admit it." Bakura remained silent. Of course he had been staring at the adorable small-version of himself; it was hard not to just want to caress his seraphic little features and smell his flowery hair. Well, Bakura imagined it to smell flowery. Ever since the first meeting of Ryou, he couldn't keep his mind off of the gorgeous boy. "Maybe...But not for twenty minutes!"

Yami grinned and sat up, "It's nothing to be embarrassed about, fluffy..."

"Don't call me fluffy."

Snorting, Yami ignored Bakura's interruption, "He's cute and single; you're...well, you're single."

"Hey!"

Yami and Marik cackled at their friend's distress. The insane blond shook his head and turned to Bakura, "You're asking him out; I don't care if you don't want to!" Bakura didn't protest, "Now, let's make you more...presentable."

"What's wrong with what I'm wearing?" Bakura looked down at his baggy and torn jeans, over-sized t-shirt and scuffed trainers.

Marik snorted again and pulled some clothes out of his draw for him to try on and made Bakura step out of his comfortable clothes, so he was standing in the middle of the room in his silky black boxers. "Wow, Bakura. Who would have known that, under all the crap that you wear, there is a pretty hot body." Bakura glowered at the large blond and pulled a shirt out of his hands and pulled it on; the neck was so big that it just slipped down his body., "My god, Marik! How big are your muscles?"

"Bigger than yours." He chuckled and turned to Yami, "You have anything he could wear?"

Yami nodded and exited the room.

"So, how do you really feel about newbie?"

Bakura glanced up at Marik who was staring out at Malik; no-matter how tough Marik's exterior, Bakura knew that he loved Malik with all of his heart. Whenever he talked about the future, Malik was always in the story in at least some way. They saved talking about feelings until Yami and the others were gone, though, "I don't know. I barely know him, but I fell as though we have a connection, y'know?"

Marik nodded, "Hmm."

Yami returned with a stack of clothes and placed them on the bed. Bakura ended up wearing a pair of Marik's smartest dark-blue jeans and one of Yami's black button-up shirts with the top three buttons undone; he looked smartly-casual. "Uh...good?"

Marik inspected Bakura and nodded, "Perfect! Now, to get you alone with Ryou..."

Just then, a knock sounded on the hard-wood door; the one who knocked turned the handle and entered. It was Malik. "Hey baby." He leaned up to kiss Marik on the lips, making Bakura's chest pang; it just struck him how much he wanted what they had. Not necessarily with Malik, but, still, "Yami, Yugi wants to 'talk' to you. He's in your room." Yami grinned like a maniac and zoomed out, "So, Bakura." Said teen glanced up, "You in the new threads because Marik made you or for someone special?"

Bakura was dumbfounded at how Malik guessed so fast; then again, with Malik you can't be too surprised. "Well...a little of both."

Malik nodded, "Now, for the fun part: guessing! Hmm..." Malik mocked a gesture of deep thought, "Hmm, Marik's your best friend, so he's out...you kinda hate Yami...you liked me last month...Yugi last year...so you must like guys smaller than you and a little more innocent..." Malik imitated a gasp and a realisation, "It must be Ryou!"

"What! Hell, how'd you guess that fast!"

"You only have six friends; it's not hard." Malik smiled gently at Bakura's dismay, "He's in his room emptying his boxes; maybe he needs help?"

"Why would he need help unpacking?"

Malik waited until Bakura's eyes widened a little in realisation before nodding and letting him past the door. He shook his head and shut the door before strolling up to Marik and wrapping his arms around his neck, placing a kiss on his nose. "How's my baby then?"

Marik curled his arms around the smaller blond's waist, "I'm okay. How's my kissing tool?"

Malik gave him a little playful whack on the back of the head, "I'm good; just been doing a little matchmaking. I guess, due to Bakura's clothes, you have been too?" Marik grinned and nodded and Malik smiled, "You always have liked to play dress-up."

Marik cackled evilly, "I like dress-down a whole lot more." Malik giggled teasingly; Marik engaged him in a deep, passionate kiss whilst pushing him onto his bed...

**XxXxXxXxXxX**

Ryou sat in the middle of his bedroom floor, surrounded by boxes of a year's supply of snacks, clothes, books and so on that his father had sent over that morning. He heard a knock at the door and he rose, pushing piles of stuff out of his footpath; opening the door, he came face to face with the very person he wanted to see and didn't at the same time, "Oh! Hi, Bakura."

"Malik said that you needed to unpack some stuff," He glanced around at the mess of crap on the floor which looked as though Ryou had attempted to tame it, but it's sheer size and Ryou's small build had made it spill amok, "Need help?"

Ryou blushed darkly, but he couldn't deny that he needed a knight in shining armour to rescue him from the attack of the boxed stuff, "Uh...yeah, that would be great."

Bakura nodded once and stepped inside; Ryou closed the door and got stuck in again. After ten or so minutes, Bakura found the silent working too much to bear, "So, Ryou, we haven't really had a chance to get to know each other."

Ryou looked up from sorting out his information books from his fiction books, "Hmm...I guess not." Bakura had to refrain from cooing at Ryou's cuteness: he looked almost like a meercat peeking out of its hill at Bakura's sudden statement; his beautiful brown eyes were big and sparkly, "Well, I grew up with an over-protective father...had a few birthdays and Christmases...that's about it."

"What? That's all?" Bakura laughed a bit, "Not a big weird event at all? Well, apart from what you said yesterday." Ryou shook his head and Bakura continued, "Well, mum decided to leave right after I was born, dad couldn't cope on his own so I got passed around my family until I was eleven; that's when I joined here. A few scraps and broken bones, but that's it. Marik and I have been best-friends since we were three; I was staying at my aunts while he was as well. She was looking after him because she was friends with his mum."

"Well, that's a lot more interesting than my life." Ryou pushed the books under his bed in the stacks he had organised them in, "See, now I feel as though I know you a little better." He grinned cutely, making Bakura nearly melt inside.

"Yeah, me too." Bakura had finally decided, against his anxiety, to ask the albino boy that question that he had been burning to ask, "Ryou?" Ryou looked up because he had returned to sorting out his stuff and silently asked him to continue. Bakura took a deep breath and decided just to get it over with and say it, "Um...Ryou, will you...would you..." He breathed deeply one last time, "Wouldyougooutwithmesometime?"

Ryou twitched his head in confusion, "Huh?"

Bakura screamed 'OH CRAP! I have to do it again?' in his head, "Um...Would you like to go out with me sometime?"

Inside, Ryou was warm and bubbly and screaming 'HELL, YEAH!' On the outside, his eyes widened, making Bakura feel like a complete idiot, before a slow, happy smile crept across his lips, "Yeah, I would."


	4. I Know You

_**Rating:**_ NC-17  
_**Pairing (s):**_ Bakura/Ryou, Marik/Malik, Yami/Yugi.  
_**Spoilers:**_ Marik's plan in Battle City I guess...  
_**Disclaimer:**_ I don't own Yugioh or any of the characters...sadface...  
_**Summary:**_ I never thought that Izumi Academy would change me so much - I mean, who would have thought that I, of all people, would fall for a guy? And all of these things that have been happening...if I didn't know better, I'd swear someone was out to kill me!

_**Warnings:**_ Shounen-ai (Male/male relationships), Yaoi (Male/male sexual relationships – though there will be forewarning of the chapters that contain the explicit stuff), Language, plus if you see it as a warning, OOC-ness.

Yami Marik = Marik, Marik = Malik, Yami Bakura = Bakura, Bakura = Ryou.

_**Chapter Four – I Know You**_

After he asked Ryou out, Bakura suggested that they go and have a nice, quiet walk around the grounds so he could show him around a bit and get to know him. Once they had finished unpacking Ryou's boxes, they grabbed their wands and made their way downstairs. When they reached the grounds, they started to slowly stroll around them, not minding where they went; Ryou was just taking in the beautiful scenery.

"So, Bakura, tell me about yourself."

"I've already told you." Bakura smirked a little, "And you've already told me about yourself."

Ryou giggle cutely and shook his head, "There's more to a person than their past, silly. I mean, like, what's your favourite colour? And, what music do you like?"

"What, you want to know the tiny, insignificant crap like that?"

Ryou nodded, "Yeah. I'm a sucker for the little things."

Bakura blushed a little but decided not to underline the sexual innuendo within Ryou's comment. Praying that Ryou hadn't seen him blush, Bakura shook his head, "Well, my favourite colour is dark green, my music preference is dance and techno stuff and, just for the record, I'm not into torturing and maiming poor, helpless simpletons." Ryou laughed softly again, "What? What's so funny?"

"Nothing." Bakura raised an eyebrow at Ryou, completely seeing through the lie, "Well...I had you down as the type of person who likes heavy metal music and loves crimson or black or something."

Bakura frowned, "Why does everyone assume that? I've never even hinted at the fact that I'm all dark and emo."

"No! No, that's not a bad thing!" Ryou shook his head reassuringly, "It's just that my first impression of you was that you're all tough and mysterious."

Bakura couldn't help but grin at Ryou's comment; he felt all powerful and good now. So, Ryou thought he was tough, eh? Hmm...Interesting...

**XxXxXxXxXxX**

"Does it look like it's going well?"

"I don't know, there's a tree in the way!" Malik and Marik were both peering out of Marik's window, spying on the tiny forms of Bakura and Ryou many floors below them. "Oh, wait! Marik, I think it's definitely going well!"

"What? Why? What's going on?"

"It's hard to tell, but I think Bakura has just taken Ryou's hand!"

"Ouch, that must hurt."

"Marik! I meant that they're holding hands now."

"And Bakura initiated it?"

"Yeah."

"Oh my God; this is serious!"

"I know!"

**XxXxXxXxXxX**

Hand in hand, the white-haired teens stared to walk around the lake, Ryou blushing a little, incredibly happy to have his hand held in Bakura's.

"So, what's your favourite colour and music?"

Ryou contemplated his answer, "Well, I like light-purple, but I don't really listen to music."

"What? How can you go through life not listening to music?" Bakura shook his head, "Music is the food of the soul; it's the beginning and swing of moods."

"Wow, I didn't know that you were so deep, Kura."

"'Kura'?" Bakura frowned a little before he caught on, "Oh, me! Yeah, a lot of people tell me I think too much into things."

"Nonsense," Ryou smiled at Bakura, "You can't think too much into things. Those who think too shallow are the ones who should sort themselves out."

The elder boy smiled lightly and gently stroked his thumb along the back of his companion's hand. His skin was so warm and soft, smooth like cream. "Yeah, I guess so."

Ryou took in a deep breath of fresh summer air. Well, he assumed it was summer, anyway – here at Izumi, the weather was either pleasantly warm, bitterly cold, pouring with rain or snowy. There was no real sense of seasons due the the way that the different weathers interspersed with each other randomly – one day it could be swelteringly sunny and the next it could hail and snow. "You want to sit at the lake?"

"Sure." Bakura changed course and led them both to the large expanse of water where there were a few other students, skimming flat stones and lounging with friends and boyfriends. It briefly crossed Ryou's mind what Malik had said earlier, about that ex of his...Seto. He said he dumped him for fear of homophobia flawing his reputation, but, from what Ryou could so far gather, the student body seemed pretty tolerant, if not welcoming, towards homosexuals. But the teen had other, more pressing, things to think about, as Bakura had just sat at the end of a short wooden fishing pier and was staring out over the water, talking absently.

"Does this feel...weird to you?"

Ryou frowned and sat beside him, a small gap between them as he griped the edge of the pier with his now-free hands. He stared at his toes, barely skimming the surface where Bakura was paddling his bare feet, shoes positioned next to him – squarely side-by-side, laces crossed over the fronts and sock balled up and placed exactly in the middle, in front of them. Ryou noted the exactness of Bakura's shoes, collecting together information about his personality and habits. Could this person possibly have OCD? Or was he just a perfectionist?

"Weird?" Ryou twitched his nose quickly, puffing his lose fringe away from his face. "Like the fact that we're both guys? I mean, yeah, I guess..."

"No! I didn't mean that!" Bakura explained quickly, apologetically, still not looking at him. "Who cares about gender? You don't have to be a woman to be beautiful or sweet – you are living proof of that." Ryou blushed and smiled at that comment. "I meant that...I don't know...It just feels like I know you. Somehow. Like from a dream or from the past or something, y'know?" He glanced sideways at the boy next to him.

Ryou shrugged and sighed. "I'm not sure. I never knew anyone except my family until I was thirteen. Even then I only had the friends that I'm still in touch with now."

"Oh..."

"I'm sorry."

"No, don't be." Bakura half smiled, covering the disappointment he felt. He had hoped that Ryou would confirm that he wasn't crazy to get these odd feelings around certain people, like he knew them, even though he didn't. He had the same instinct when he met Marik, all those years ago. The blonde, of course, told him he was a head case but laughed and accepted that that was just who he was. He had it with, Yugi, Yami and Malik also, each telling him that they had no idea what he was talking about. Every so often, he passed a random student in the halls and he felt that familiar impression, but he never mentioned it to those strangers. He just hoped, albeit forlornly, that Ryou may get it too. "I get that sometimes. Don't worry – I'm just crazy."

"No you're not...well, you are but..." He turned towards the boy next to him, a huge grin on his angelic face. "I like crazy!"

Bakura raised his eyebrows sceptically and smiled. "Really?"

"Hell, yeah!"

The older teen bit his lip and chuckled. "Good!" He then pushed his partner into the freezing water of the lake.

**XxXxXxXxXxX**

"Oh my God! What the _hell_ is that kid doing?"

"What?" Marik, Yugi and Yami darted over to where Malik was – sitting on the balcony where he was previously reading a book before an almost inaudible splash and scream caught his attention from far below.

"Bakura just threw him in the lake!"

"What?" Yami and Yugi gasped and ran to the balcony while Marik cackled and fell back to the bed to resume daydreaming. "Marik, what the hell?"

"Relax, he's probably going to laugh and find it funny."

Soon enough, they heard laughter, faint from that hight. "Oh...I thought he was having an episode or something."

"Ha! He's not that crazy, babe. You've got to relax, he likes this one."

**XxXxXxXxXxX**

"You know what?"

Bakura was still struggling to control his giggles as Ryou stood – soaking wet – in the waist-deep water, picking the leaves that had once been floating peacefully from his hair and skin. "What?"

The boy in front of him shook his head roughly to spray him with icy droplets, laughing and poking his tongue out as Bakura gasped and ducked away. "I don't like crazy that much."

"Oh, really?"

"Really."

Ryou smiled, showing Bakura that he was joking. This was going really well...for his first ever date, anyway. He didn't really know what classed a date as 'good' after all. But they were having fun and Bakura looked so hot and he was opening up to him and he smelled so good...and he was getting so close...

The next thing he knew, Bakura had hopped down into the water and was kissing him.

_Kissing_ him. _My first kiss... _

So sudden...and he ran away, through the school and back to his room, leaving Bakura alone, perplexed and crestfallen.

"What did I do wrong?"


	5. Unwanted Memories

**Oh my god – I'm so sorry for the late update! I didn't even realise how long it had been. I can't update that often anyway but I'll give it a good try for you.**

**1wildrose1 .. x**

_**Rating:**_ NC-17  
_**Pairing (s):**_ Bakura/Ryou, Marik/Malik, Yami/Yugi.  
_**Spoilers:**_ Marik's plan in Battle City I guess...  
_**Disclaimer:**_ I don't own Yugioh or any of the characters...sadface...  
_**Summary:**_ I never thought that Izumi Academy would change me so much - I mean, who would have thought that I, of all people, would fall for a guy? And all of these things that have been happening...if I didn't know better, I'd swear someone was out to kill me!

_**Warnings:**_ Shounen-ai (Male/male relationships), Yaoi (Male/male sexual relationships – though there will be forewarning of the chapters that contain the explicit stuff), Language, plus if you see it as a warning, OOC-ness.

Yami Marik = Marik, Marik = Malik, Yami Bakura = Bakura, Bakura = Ryou.

_**Chapter Five – Unwanted Memories**_

_Stop...Please... _Ryou had his head buried in his pillows, hands fisted in his hair, trying to block out the images and voices that were flooding his mind. _I won't do it again...please! I've learned my lesson!_

But that was _his_ voice crying out, saying things that he could ever remember saying. _A dark room. A boy on his knees, cowering away from the dark figure hovering over him. "Oh God...I'm so sorry, Bakura!"_

**XxXxXxXxXxX**

"You didn't do anything?" Malik asked, hugging Bakura around the shoulders. "Nothing at all?"

He shook his head and sighed. "No, I just kissed him."

"Maybe that was it."

"Yami, do you have to be a dick right now?"

"I'm being serious!" Yami waved his hands at Marik who was about ready to knock him out. "I mean he's shy right? Inexperienced. Maybe you just scared him."

"Yeah..." Yugi smiled across the room at Bakura. "Me and Malik had to explain about innuendos and such just this morning – he just might not have been expecting it."

"I guess...but..." Bakura frowned and looked up at Marik. "He kissed back at first."

**XxXxXxXxXxX**

The voices quietened down after a while, then stopped. But the images – those of a bloodied, beaten boy laying lifeless on the floor – were burned into his mind. That boy...was him. He had decided that he had to accept that – but was it real? He had never met Bakura before, he was sure of that. He couldn't ever remember being beaten up to that extent either. As soon as he began to kiss Bakura back the voices and the images screamed at him – warning him away. No daydream or trick of the mind could be that vivid.

Whether it was real or not, it scared the crap out of him. So much so that...

"Oh, no! I ran away." Ryou groaned. Poor Bakura! Even if he had done those things to him, he clearly didn't remember it. That's if it had happened at all. Maybe Ryou was just crazy – that seemed more likely.

There was a light knock on the door. "Ry, can I come in?"

Ryou looked up from his pile of blankets and called back. "Um...okay?"

The door slowly opened and Malik peered his head around the corner. He frowned at the sight of his new friend wrapped up in his bed, feeling sorry for himself. "You want to talk about it?"

Ryou just shrugged – a slight movement of sheets – and Malik sighed heavily, stepping into the room, sitting on the end of the bed. "Why did you run away?"

The white haired boy pursed his lips and raised one shoulder, not meeting Malik's eyes. "I'm not sure. Something...happened."

Malik leaned against the bedpost, trying to catch Ryou's eye. "Something? Something like you got too...happy? Because that's normal, Ry."

Ryou frowned, still not used to hearing sexual references. "Happy? What do you mean?"

"Um..." Malik smiled patiently. "I mean that you got a bit too excited. From the kiss I mean. It's nothing to worry about."

"Oh..." Ryou's eyes widened as he realised just what Malik meant. "Oh! No, I don't mean that!"

The blond twitched his head at him, frowning. "Then what do you mean, Ry? I'm not going to be able to help you unless you tell me."

Ryou grasped the headboard and pulled himself into a sitting position, contemplating what to say. "I don't really know. I just..." He gripped his hair in exasperation, finally meeting his friend's eyes. "You know how Bakura says that he feels like he knows us?"

Malik nodded, motioning him to continue.

"Well...what if it's true?" He smiled lightly at Malik's confused expression. "I think I know him...I just don't remember knowing him."

"What do you mean?" Malik leaned forward. "How can you not remember knowing someone?"

"I don't know – I just do." He stared out of the window across the room, trying to blink away the still-strong images of that boy – _Me_, he reminded himself,_ 'That boy' is me –_ covered in blood.

"I don't understand what that's got to do with you running away when he kissed you though."

Ryou peered up at him through his white bangs. "When he kissed me, these weird voices started whispering in my head – they got louder and louder until I kissed him back. Then they started screaming at me and these pictures started flashing through my mind."

"Naughty voices and pictures? 'Cos that's not out of the ordinary..."

"No." Ryou shifted his gaze to his floor, his bed, his walls. Anywhere but Malik. "Awful pictures and voices. Horrible. Like nothing that I could imagine myself."

Malik shook his head and shifted closer to his friend, placing a comforting hand on his shoulder. "Um, Ry?" He waited until Ryou met his eyes. "Are you sure that you really saw and heard that stuff? Maybe you should go to see the nurse."

"No, I don't need the nurse." Ryou shook his head and bit his lip. "If I was going crazy, I'd need something to base it on. I'd need something in my subconsciousness to show me what is bad enough to scare me. But these things are like nothing I've ever known – my father always sheltered me from everything remotely bad like that. I didn't even hear any stories like that. It has to be something else."

Malik frowned. "I suppose. But what could they be? What exactly are you seeing and hearing?"

Ryou explained to him what he had experienced, including the fact that the boy he saw looked like him. It took him some effort to admit that he had pleaded with someone to stop the torment – someone named Bakura. "I don't know, Malik. I think they're memories. But...I look older than I am now in them. I don't know what it's about."

"Hmm." The blond was still processing all of what Ryou had said. It was a little hard to grasp – his new friend having 'memories' about Bakura. It was too coincidental. "Are you sure you've never met Bakura before? These things don't just happen."

"Yes I'm sure." Ryou shook his head. "Besides, they can't be flashbacks or anything because we look _older_ in them, not younger."

"I guess..." Malik sighed. "What are you going to do now? Bakura's tearing himself apart because he thinks that he did something wrong. You can't blame him for something that he hasn't done."

"I know. I'm not going to. But I think I need to stay away from him while I sort my head out."

"Ry, that's punishing him too." Malik gently grasped his friend's face between his hands, looking into his eyes. "He _really_ likes you. You can't leave him hanging for long because that's just not fair."

"I won't leave it for long." Ryou bit his lip again, looking down. "I just don't think I can handle it. Not yet."

"Okay, I get it." Malik smiled gently. "I need to get back. Marik's about ready to kill Yami for his snide little comments so I have to prevent a massacre – Yugi can't hold the fort by himself. You going to be all right by yourself?"

Ryou nodded, hugging the blankets tighter around himself. "Yeah, I'll be fine. I think I need to be alone with my thoughts anyway."

"Okay." Malik hugged his friend and stood to leave. "I'm always just across the hall if you need me."

Ryou smiled at him. "Thanks, Malik. I'll remember that."

**XxXxXxXxXxX**

"Did he talk to you about it?" Bakura jumped up as soon as Malik entered the room. "Was it me? What did I do?"

Malik held his hands up to him. "Yes, he told me what was wrong." Bakura gazed at him hopefully. "It's not you _really_, but it kind of is...I don't think it's my place to say. He just needs to sort his head out."

"Oh...I see."

Malik exchanged a look with Marik over Bakura's slumped form. "So what does that mean – 'he needs to sort his head out'?" Marik said.

"It just means that the thing that freaked him out _really_ freaked him out. It's not really about what you do now, Bakura. You just need to leave him be for a while until he decides how he needs to deal with it."

"But how can I do that?" Bakura mumbled from where he had dumped himself on his bed. He looked up from his pillows. "We have Magical Model Making together twice a week and we all have P.E, Flying, Potions, Transfiguration and Charms together."

"Ah...yeah." Yugi frowned and shrugged. "I suppose you're just going to have to give him as much space as you can."

"I can in P.E, Flying, Potions, Transfiguration and Charms, but what about triple M? You lot won't be there to sit between us."

"Well, he is still new, Bakura. Were not the only ones that are going to offer our friendship." Marik said. "He'll probably sit with someone else."

"Oh, yeah." Bakura had forgotten that Ryou was still new. It felt like they had been friends forever. But he reminded himself that he had only known him for a day – he shouldn't get that upset over some kid that had only just joined the west wing. But still... "I guess you're right."

"It's only for now – he'll come around." Malik said reassuringly. "I'm sure he'll see past it."

"It would help if I knew what 'it' is."

"Not my place."

"Fine."

The boys didn't spend much longer in Bakura's room since said teen became more and more seclusive, drawing into himself. They bid him goodnight and left him to his thoughts. The rest of the weekend passed in tension as both Ryou and Bakura refused to leave their rooms – apart from for the bathroom and, in Ryou's case, to eat.

On Monday, they would be forced to share the same space again and Bakura decided that he would at least get to know what he had done wrong.


	6. The Beginning of Something

**Wow...I'd forgotten how much I love writing – it relaxes me so much... :) Guess that's good for you all because I'm updating pretty regularly now. Enjoy!**

**1wildrose1 .. x**

_**Rating:**_ NC-17  
_**Pairing (s):**_ Bakura/Ryou, Marik/Malik, Yami/Yugi.  
_**Spoilers:**_ Marik's plan in Battle City I guess...  
_**Disclaimer:**_ I don't own Yugioh or any of the characters...sadface...  
_**Summary:**_ I never thought that Izumi Academy would change me so much - I mean, who would have thought that I, of all people, would fall for a guy? And all of these things that have been happening...if I didn't know better, I'd swear someone was out to kill me!

_**Warnings:**_ Shounen-ai (Male/male relationships), Yaoi (Male/male sexual relationships – though there will be forewarning of the chapters that contain the explicit stuff), Language, plus if you see it as a warning, OOC-ness.

Yami Marik = Marik, Marik = Malik, Yami Bakura = Bakura, Bakura = Ryou.

_**Chapter Six – The Beginning of Something**_

_**Ryou's POV**_

Monday morning was...uncomfortable. P.E and Flying – both physical and, therefore, evil – were bad enough on their own without having to endure Malik and Yugi's comforting mutters or Yami's muffled chuckling at the intense stares I was receiving from Marik. Worst of all was Bakura's utter avoidance of me – he didn't even look in my direction. I guess that I should have been grateful that he was giving me space – I really needed it – but a deeper, more innate part of my being wanted to call out to him, to reach for him.

Last night, the 'memories' – as I'd come to call them – seeped into my dreams. These new ones were different, though; they weren't violent, full of blood and pleas, as the first one was. I wasn't begging for forgiveness or on my knees in tears. They were so much less vivid, yet they carried with them a sense of happiness – or peace at least – that the first one sorely lacked.

One in particular kept on flashing through my mind as I tried mastering the art of not falling off of the broomstick – one where Bakura and I were about twenty-six (don't ask how I know). We were laying on a squashy white sofa, me laying on him with my head on his chest, and we were just talking as he leisurely stroked my hair with the back of his hand. We spoke about how we thought 'they' should just get over themselves and get together, and about how someone named Naoko was doing in school. It was so simple – just a normal conversation between two lovers, no underlying malevolence.

After that, every time my attention wandered from class my eyes drifted over to Bakura's ever-tense form, those blissful images flooding my mind. It was hard to remember how dreadful the first one was. All I wanted to do was hold him and kiss him and tell him that everything was okay. But I didn't really know how to go about it – I mean, what would I say? "Sorry about bolting just after you kissed me and making you feel like an absolute idiot. No hard feelings?" I think not. At least, not in front of everyone.

"You seem awfully distracted today, Mr. Bakura." The tall, muscular flying instructor named Juro – he insisted that his students must only call him by his first name – said frowning. A small electrical impulse zapped at the back of my mind as Bakura glanced up, assuming that Juro was calling him. For a brief few seconds, our eyes met and time stopped. His were so full of questions and doubt – just sadness. His lips parted, as if he was going to speak, but then time began to flow again. "It's not very good to fall behind in your first lesson."

"Sorry, Juro." I refocused my attention – scraping all of the consciousness together that I could to focus on my task of flying at least four feet off of the ground for twenty meters. Considering that I'd never so much as laid eyes on a broomstick before – public magic school didn't do flying lessons because it was unfair on all the non-magical students or something – I was doing...okay. Well, skimming my toes along the grass as I went wasn't _technically_ four foot in the air...but close enough.

"Come on, Ry." Malik laughed, a good ten feet above my head. "It's called flying, not hovering. Get moving!"

I frowned at him, pulling the handle up cautiously. The broom shuddered and rose a few inches before hovering again – my feet were completely off the ground now, my balance starting to become wobbly. As soon as I stabilised, I began leaning forward to get the broom travelling along slowly.

A loud laugh sounded from above me – Yami was next to Malik, chuckling at my slow progress on the ground. He swooped down – all graceful and perfect and everything, just to add to my frustration – and raised his eyebrows at me. "What, have you never flown before?"

I kept my gaze on the slow path that I was tracing, not wanting to lose balance. "No...I came from...public school...remember?"

"Ooh...yeah. I remember." He trailed along beside me smirking all the way.

"Yami, what are you up to?" Yugi called from overhead.

"Just helping him out, aibou." He turned back to me. "Try going a little bit faster."

I shook my head in small, jerky motions – nothing was going to make me lose my balance, not even a shake of the head. "I'm okay...as I am."

He sighed and floated closer. "How are you going to improve if you go at the speed of drying paint?"

"Not...trying to...improve." I made it to twenty meters and grinned hugely. "Yeah! Did it!"

"I said four foot off the ground, Mr. Bakura." Juro called over – without even looking! Darn. "Go again."

"Urgh." I lowered to the ground and swivelled myself around – not knowing how to turn in the air without falling on my face yet – before rising again and retracing my path.

"Four foot, Ryou. It''s not hard." Yami was really starting to annoy me. As if he was super confident the first time he flew! "Go higher!"

I twitched the handle upwards once again, raising about an inch or so – that was enough for me! I was high enough to not be able to catch myself with my feet if I fell. Yami sighed, disappearing from beside me, clearly bored of helping me.

I progressed a meter before a scream in my ear made me jump and recoil – I pulled my hands up to clutch my chest instinctively, pulling the handle up with them making me rocket up into the sky, holding on for dear life – my sweaty hands hardly holding on. I crashed past Malik and Yugi – going too fast to see their expressions – screaming and soared higher still, trying to push the handle downwards – the resistance of the air made the task impossible. Soon I passed Marik, who was flying the highest of all the students. The wind roared in my ears, blocking out any advise anyone could have been trying to give me – the cold air numbing my fingers and cheeks, freezing the tears that had escaped my eyes from the sting of the air.

_C'mon, Ryou. You love flying – what's the matter? _I tried to gasp, but all got was a mouth full of freezing moisture – the dry summer air completely gone. Not now – why give me a memory now? _Wow, you're letting yourself go. Or are you just letting me win? _Bakura appeared beside me, at least twenty years old, flying parallel to me – a playful grin was plastered on his face as he gained height over me. _Careful, of the clouds. You remember the last time we got wet together? _He winked. I couldn't help it – I had to touch him. Up here in the icy sky, hurtling towards my certain death, no one would know about my hallucination.

The second my hand left the handle, that was it. The slight shift of my body allowed the wind to catch me and slam me off of the broom. Bakura disappeared. All I saw was empty grey skies and a rapidly descending broomstick. That's when it hit me – I was tumbling to the ground with no way to stop myself. Panic finally gripped me – I frantically clawed at the air, gasping violently, inhaling even more freezing moisture.

The broom dropped quicker than I did, smacking into my shoulder as it went, making me spin as I fell – as soon as I caught sight of the ground, another wave of terror washed over me. I hadn't realised how high I actually was – I couldn't even see the academy. It was getting hard to breathe. I couldn't see through the dizziness caused by the spinning. My entire body was numb.

I was going to die.

_No! Not again!_ Suddenly, something warm wrapped around my back, slowing my descent. I was pulled up and cradled in one arm like a young child as my saviour hurtled towards the ground with practised control – still holding me effortlessly. I couldn't open my eyes from the pain that the wind had caused them – my chest felt heavy from the amount of water that I'd breathed in. Everything was blurring out of my consciousness.

The last thing I remember is my saviour whispering to me – "It's okay now – I won't let go."

_**Normal POV**_

Bakura couldn't slow down in time to land gracefully – instead opting to swivel with Ryou on his chest, letting his own back take the brunt of the crash landing. They skidded a few hundred yards along the cobblestone driveway of the academy, slicing Bakura's skin, before the broomstick and gravity power-combo lost its momentum, bringing them into a agonising halt.

Coughing from the pain, Bakura glanced down at the unconscious form in his arms. He was going to _destroy_ Yami. As soon as that good-for-nothing, should-be-kissing-Ryou's-ass-for-next-thousand-years-for-pulling-a-stunt-like-that prick – as he had so articulately named him – had yelled in the boy's ear, Ryou freaked out and lost control of the broom.

He shouldn't have been going that fast. Ryou had ascended so rapidly, no one could catch him – Bakura himself only managed to get him as he fell, after ignoring Juro's order for all students to stay on the ground. None of the standard brooms could travel that quickly – not even staff-issue ones! Something weird happened there. But Bakura had bigger things to worry about – Ryou had inhaled far too much moisture from the cloud layer and still wasn't breathing.

Bakura lifted him off of his chest and lay him on the ground, wincing through the pain in his back, and proceeded to give the boy mouth-to-mouth. Long breath in. Long, gurgling breath out. Long breath in. Long, rasping breath out. Long breath in. Long, hoarse breath out. After a few tries, Ryou began to cough and sputter – Bakura lifted him to his side, allowing him to cough up the rest of the water.

They lay there like that for ten minutes at least – Ryou gasping in a half-aware state while Bakura clasped his back to his chest and holding his head up, keeping him in place. Voices eventually could be heard approaching the scene and, after a few seconds, five figures could be seen rushing towards them from the other side of the building, one of which was floating a stretcher in front of them.

As they got closer, Bakura noticed that Headmaster Tatsuya had joined them, looking ever the composed eccentric, along with the panicked-looking Juro, Malik, Marik and Yugi. "Oh my God! Are you okay?"

"They're alive aren't they?" The headmaster answered Yugi's question briskly, checking his stop-watch. "Although, the new boy doesn't seem to be boding well here. Unconscious on the first day – a new Izumi record! Exciting stuff."

Bakura peered down at Ryou to see that he had, indeed, passed out again. "He..s...hurt. Hos...pit...al."

"What the hell's the matter with _you_?" Marik frowned before seeing the blood trail leading to the two boys on the ground, his eyes finally settling on what he could see of Bakura's back. "Holy shit!" Marik rushed to help Bakura up while Juro and Yugi got Ryou on the stretcher that Malik had been levitating. "Come on, man. I won't touch your back."

He pulled his friend into a half piggy-back, practically dragging him along as they all made their way frantically to the ground floor infirmary – well, Tatsuya strolled along carelessly, but the rest of them were frantic.

In the hours that followed, neither of the boys remembered much. White walls. Screens. Beeping. Pain. Someone crying. Someone apologising.

_Oh, Ryou. Why do you make this so hard?_


	7. Remember Me

**Hmm...no reviews for last chapter :( come on! Reviews make me happy XD This chapter is the result of the end of exams bliss. It's short but vital. Enjoy!**

**1wildrose1 .. x**

_**Rating:**_ NC-17  
_**Pairing (s):**_ Bakura/Ryou, Marik/Malik, Yami/Yugi.  
_**Spoilers:**_ Marik's plan in Battle City I guess...  
_**Disclaimer:**_ I don't own Yugioh or any of the characters...sadface...  
_**Summary:**_ I never thought that Izumi Academy would change me so much - I mean, who would have thought that I, of all people, would fall for a guy? And all of these things that have been happening...if I didn't know better, I'd swear someone was out to kill me!

_**Warnings:**_ Shounen-ai (Male/male relationships), Yaoi (Male/male sexual relationships – though there will be forewarning of the chapters that contain the explicit stuff), Language, plus if you see it as a warning, OOC-ness.

Yami Marik = Marik, Marik = Malik, Yami Bakura = Bakura, Bakura = Ryou.

_**Chapter Seven – Remember Me**_

_What? Where am I? _He glanced around the stark white room slowly, careful not to jostle his pounding head. Nothing looked familiar and he couldn't even guess at his location – the last thing he remembered was...He didn't know. A voice – that was it. Just the voice – he couldn't pinpoint the words or the speaker – but it was clear as crystal. The deep, low voice that echoed against his skull resonated in his mind...but what did it say?

The air in the room he was in tingled with something familiar and smelt like his childhood – like a dense, musky heat. Sounds...what sounds were there? He couldn't hear past the dull ringing in his ears and the voice still reverberating in his head. It was still night time so the little light there was came from the dim bulbs of a table lamp beside his bed.

This situation – all in all – confused him, to put it lightly. Some innate feeling told him not to panic but it didn't stop him from sitting up sharply at the first sound – other than ringing and that voice – that broke through to him: deep, steady breathing that wasn't his own. He was surrounded by a sickly green curtain, blocking the other person from view.

Before he knew what he was doing, his bare feet met the icy floor, causing a shiver to rattle up his spine. Shaking off the cold, he progressed stiffly towards the breathing – _why is it so hard to walk? _His fingers slid along the plastic curtains to find the end and pulled it out of his way.

The second his eyes focused on the person on the bed, everything stopped. His chest grew painfully tight as something stuck in his throat, making him gasp for air. Lurching forward, his knees buckled and he fell onto the metal frame of the bed, still staring at the sleeping form in shock. "T...Tou...Touzoku-ou."

The man's face tensed slightly at his voice, frowning. He watched silently as the man stirred from his sleep, drinking in the under-lid eye movements, the small wrinkles that appeared as he scrunched his nose, the twitches of his pale lips. "Hmm...what?"

_That voice_. "Touzo...open your eyes."

His eyes snapped open at the sound of his voice. "You...you are...you are here?" Touzoku-ou's lips formed the shapes of words, eyes wide. At once, they gripped each other, breathing one another's scent, running their hands through each other's hair and across skin. "I thought..."

"Shhh." The one above the man pressed a finger to Touzoku-ou's lips – a small smile graced his face as tears rolled down his cheeks. "Touzo...we are together again. Think not of what it means to be so, just focus on the fact that we are."

"Akemi..." Touzo lifted him up and pulled him onto his lap, holding his face gently. "It has been so long."

"Indeed, it has." He pressed his forehead to the man below him's own, staring deeply into those oh-so familiar eyes – deep mocha swirling into ebony. "Yet...my love for you remains as strong as it ever was."

Touzo inhaled deeply, letting those words sink in. "As does mine for you – it is the only reason my heart continues to beat...quite literally."

Akemi let out a breathy laugh, relieved to have been requited. "The young one's memories have only just began to return – I cannot remember all of the old days just yet."

Touzo furrowed his eyebrows and cast his eyes downwards, to Akemi's stomach. "Does this mean that it is gone?"

Akemi's eyes shone with fear as he wrenched his pyjama top up to check his skin. "Oh...I...This is a new body, I suppose...I..." More tears appeared in the corners of his eyes.

"Akemi." Touzo leaned up and brushed the smaller boy's eyes with his thumbs, a sad smile on his lips. "It is not a great matter, my love. We can do it again – as many times as it takes in these lifetimes for it to be forever."

Akemi nodded slowly, keeping eye contact. "It has always been forever." He cocked his head to the side, eyebrows raised at the man below him.

"What is it, Aki?" Touzo stroked his love's face gently as he spoke. "What is wrong?"

Akemi leaned down so that his silky white hair created a barrier between their faces and the rest of the world. "I am truly worried, Touzo...Worried that this whole lifetime will pass with you too hesitant to kiss me."

Touzo chuckled and pulled his lover down to seal their lips. As soon as they connected, the reality of how long they had been apart struck them – how they truly longed for one another, mind, body and soul. Their movements became fluid as tongues clashed and hands searched – fingers fit into familiar curves and dimples, tracing well-remembered patterns along time-changed flesh.

Touzo gripped Akemi's body tightly, flipping their positions and pinning his lover to the mattress. Akemi tugged at Touzo's hospital gown, desperate to be reunited once and for all. "N-no, Aki..." Touzo pulled back with a pained expression. "We cannot...These boys have not..." He sighed and gazed at Akemi apologetically. "You know the rules of this, Aki – they have to realise it first."

"I know, Touzo, but I miss you so much." He hugged his lover to him, savouring every moment.

"And I you, Aki."

Akemi bit his lip and caressed his own stomach lightly where his mark used to be. "Perhaps...if I had it back...if he had it too..."

Touzo smiled brightly, eyes wide with hope. "You want it back again? Now?"

Akemi brought Touzo's hand to rest on top of his own on his stomach. "With all my heart, Touzoku-ou."

He nodded happily and took the smaller boy's hands, guiding them to rest over his heart. He then touched the palm of his own left hand on the expanse of skin above Akemi's navel – both boys brought their eyes up to meet. "Akemi – I vow to you that I shall protect you, honour you and love you for all eternity. I am your own to do with as you wish."

Akemi closed his eyes to enjoy the familiar vow, reciting his own blissfully. "Touzoku-ou – I vow to you that I shall take care of you, hold you and love you for all eternity. I belong to you, now and forever."

Touzo's hand glowed a pure white, brandishing both palm and belly with the same, binding words in Arabic: "Eternally One."

Both boys felt it at the same time – the pulling at their minds, the fading of consciousness. "Aki...I do not know when we shall meet again." He gripped his love's face between his hands. "Know that I love you."

Akemi nodded roughly. "I have known that since I met you, Touzo...I love you."

They faded just as their lips met, leaving two drowsy teenagers lip-locked and still half trapped in sleep.

Bakura's eyes slowly focused – he seemed to be having an amazing dream about Ryou...he'd forgiven him for whatever he had done wrong and was kissing him..."Bakura!"

He snapped to attention – dream-Ryou had pulled out of the kiss and had a look of pure shock on his face. That was weird...in his dreams Ryou never pulled away. Unless..."Oh crap!" He scrambled back until his back slammed against the metal bed frame, making him hiss in pain from his wounds. "What...what?"

"Uh..." Ryou's mind was reeling. How did they end up like that? In the hospital, no less! He felt a strong pulling sensation as soon as Bakura had thrown himself back – like a he was metal and Bakura was his own magnet. "Did you kiss me?"

Bakura shook his head. "No! Well, I don't think I did..." His eyes trailed down, raking over Ryou's chest and stomach which were still exposed from where Akemi had lifted his top. "You have a tattoo?"

Ryou frowned. "No, I don't." He peered down at his own body and gasped as he saw the writing. "How on earth did that get there?"

"You mean, it wasn't there before?"

Ryou shook his head and raised his eyebrow at Bakura's raised palm, sussing out what must have happened – and where his hand had been. "It must be ink – it's on your hand too."

Bakura looked at his palm in confusion, looking back and forth between the two marks. "But...it's the right way round. If it was an imprint, wouldn't it be backwards?"

Ryou nodded slowly. The whole situation was beginning to make him feel uncomfortable – he pulled his shirt down and looked past skew-whiff curtains leading to a bed with his school robes hanging over the rails its foot. He pushed up from the bed. "I should go back to bed – I still feel a bit ill." He began to walk but was pulled back by that new magnetic force – it seemed to want him to stay next to Bakura. He turned back to see the older boy staring at him, as if he had something to say. "Yes?"

Bakura frowned. He had called Ryou back in his mind – too chicken to do so out loud – but the other teen seemed to have heard him. "What did I do?"

Ryou's stomach turned with guilt. He longed to tell him that it was nothing but he wasn't quite sure – what with the 'memories' and, now, the random blackout where they woke up kissing with some weird scribbled tattoo. He so desperately wanted to trust him and be with him – every fibre of his being wanted to hold him – but his mind just couldn't handle it yet. "Nothing. It's...me. Um...something I have to get over myself." He kept his gaze the the tiled floor, unable to bear the pain in Bakura's face. "You'll be the first to know when I do." With that said, he turned on his heel, threw the curtains shut and curled into a ball beneath the thin blanket that donned his bed.

He lay like that, digging his nails into the mattress to refrain from giving in to the pull. He could almost feel Bakura's every move, sensing that he was tossing and turning unable to sleep. He wanted to go and stroke the soft spot behind his ear which would make him fall into a deep sleep – how he knew that, he didn't know – and kiss the raindrop-shaped birthmark on his collarbone.

He groaned, curling tighter around himself to settle his roiling stomach – he had to tuck his fingers into his ribs to try and quell their itch to tickle the base of his neck which would always make him chuckle and blush. The place where his new tattoo was burned dully, as if to remind him that it was there.

Suddenly, there was warmth behind him, sliding onto the bed. It hesitated for a breath before wrapping a pale arm around him slowly, giving him enough time to pull away. But he'd rejected him too often and he couldn't bring himself to do so again – not when he so badly wanted his embrace anyway...at least for that night. Bakura's breath was hot on his neck as he absently traced a finger across the hollow of his throat. Ryou was instantly relaxed – the magnetic feeling had gone away finally and his eyes were so heavy...

**Ryou's past name, Akemi, is often used as a girl's name in Japan, meaning 'bright and beautiful/red beauty', but as a boy's name, it means 'beauty of dawn'. I don't know why, but I thought of Ryou when I read that meaning. If you didn't already know, Touzoku-ou was Bakura's name as the King of Thieves.**


	8. Head Games

**Now we're going to get into the side stories ;P hope you haven't forgotten about them! I don't really know why I always make Yami a giant pain in the ass...Woops. Enjoy!**

**1wildrose1 .. x**

_**Rating:**_ NC-17  
_**Pairing (s):**_ Bakura/Ryou, Marik/Malik, Yami/Yugi.  
_**Spoilers:**_ Marik's plan in Battle City I guess...  
_**Disclaimer:**_ I don't own Yugioh or any of the characters...sadface...  
_**Summary:**_ I never thought that Izumi Academy would change me so much - I mean, who would have thought that I, of all people, would fall for a guy? And all of these things that have been happening...if I didn't know better, I'd swear someone was out to kill me!

_**Warnings:**_ Shounen-ai (Male/male relationships), Yaoi (Male/male sexual relationships – though there will be forewarning of the chapters that contain the explicit stuff), Language, plus if you see it as a warning, OOC-ness.

Yami Marik = Marik, Marik = Malik, Yami Bakura = Bakura, Bakura = Ryou.

_**Chapter Eight – Head Games**_

The snickers were fine – he could deal with them. He could even handle the hurled comments and jibes about handling a broom – and how they could help him figure out what to do with a stick – mainly because he still didn't understand the underlying innuendos. But the thing that he really couldn't stand was the strange kind of coldness that the entire school treated Yami with. Yes, they made jokes towards Ryou about what had happened, but it actually made him kind-of popular in a weird way – he was now identified as the 'calamity kid', which people found oddly endearing. Yami, on the other hand, was hated – even Yugi was having a hard time forgiving him. Ryou was appalled at the fact that he was the one to cause such a rift between two people who were so obviously made for each other.

"Round two?" Malik raised his eyebrows at Ryou as he watched him walk into their Ancient Runes classroom and collapse into the empty desk next to him. "I thought that you'd take longer off than a few hours. You sure that you're okay now?"

Ryou shrugged, getting his text book and notepad out. "Okay might be stretching it – I'm well enough to go to class and ward off insults." He sighed and looked over at his new friend. "Bakura's still in the infirmary. His back is still pretty bad."

Malik nodded and rested his feet on the desk. "I'll go see him during the break. Has Yami spoken to you yet? You know, apologised? Grovelled at your feet for forgiveness?"

The white haired boy groaned and hid his face in his arms. "No, Malik. Drop it."

"I suppose he's keeping his attention on Yugi. Man...that guy isn't going to get any for _months_..." He glanced sideways at Ryou. "Don't feel bad about it, Ry. He's the one in the wrong and everybody knows it." He cracked his jaw to punctuate his point. "I guess you weren't entirely aware what he did because you were looking away, but he yelled in your ear and kicked your broom upwards."

"What?" Ryou frowned. "He didn't kick my broom."

"He did, Ry. Everyone saw."

"But..." Ryou didn't feel like it was Yami's fault. It wasn't the sense that it was an accident or something while the guy was trying to help him fly better – it just felt like he wasn't even there, which was crazy because obviously was. Ryou himself had talked to him and had gotten annoyed with the way he spoke to him..."He wasn't himself."

"What do you mean?" Malik asked, confused.

"It's just the way he spoke to me – it wasn't Yami. I mean, I know I haven't known him long, but even I could tell that he was...I don't know. Not right?" Ryou shrugged. "Don't you remember what Yugi said to him just before?"

Malik nodded slowly. "He said 'what are you up to'. But, Ry, he could have just been saying that as a passing comment or something."

"Yeah, that's what I thought. But why would he be so upset with him now if he didn't notice something wrong?"

Marik's eyebrows knitted together in thought. "I guess..."

"Mr. Ishtar, feet off the table!" Their teacher had entered the room and was staring at the two of them with pursed lips, waiting to start class. "Now that you two have finished your conversation, would you all turn to page thirty-four in your textbooks. That is if you can handle the equipment in _this_ class, Mr. Bakura?"

Every face in the room turned around to laugh at Ryou's cherry-red face. "I think I'm fine." _Great – even the teachers think I'm a moron. _He spent the rest of the lesson in stony silence, feeling Malik's sympathetic glances from his side. This was going to be a long day.

**XxXxXxXxXxX**

Neither Bakura or Yami were in Charms. Ryou sat with the west-wing group at the back of the room, being introduced to the other wing members that he hadn't met yet. One guy – Jou, he thought his name was – turned in his chair with a huge grin on his face. "Wow, thought I'd never get to see the famous Calamity Kid!"

"Watch it, Katsuya." Malik snapped at him, glaring daggers at the perplexed teen.

"Woah, man – just a joke." Jou shook his head and turned back to Ryou. "Sorry – you're not really offended are you?"

"No." Ryou peered at his seething friend. "Malik, it's fine. Everyone's saying it."

"Hmph." He huffed, pretending to go back to work.

"Don't worry – we don't get on because of...reasons." Jou whispered, smiling nervously. "I'm not terrible, honest."

"Fucking...reasons? You've got nerve." Malik's hands were shaking as he clutched the edge of the desk, refusing to look up at him.

Jou sighed and twisted in his seat to face the front once again. "Hey, now. No need to be airing out our dirty laundry, Ishtar."

"Then get on with your damn work and leave us alone."

"I was introducing myself to Ryou. Being friendly – you ever heard of it?" He clenched his jaw, still facing away from them. "Not everything I do is a scheme designed to mess with you. Christ...I don't even know what I did to make you hate me so fucking much."

"You know exactly what you did."

"No, I...!"

"Whatever." Malik slammed his book onto the desk, effectively ending the conversation as the teacher wrote the spell they were supposed to be practising on the board and told them to get on with it.

Ryou stared at his friend in astonishment. "What was that about?"

Malik shrugged and pulled out his wand. "You want to go first or should I?" Yugi caught Ryou's eye and mouthed 'don't ask' before turning back to his partner.

The spell that they were practising was a form of cosmetic charm that changed the colour of hair for a few hours at a time – something that Ryou didn't really know how to do with a wand, so he let Malik practice on him first. For half an hour, no-one in the room looked different at all, and then...

"Oh my God, Marik! It's green!" Some kid that was paired up with the aforementioned blond tugged at his now neon-green hair with a half-horrified, half-amazed expression on his face. "I'm going to have to walk around looking like a human snot!"

"Relax, Valon. It's an improvement, I assure you." Marik cackled and dodged the stinging spell that came flying his way.

"All right, my turn, blondie."

"Uh oh..."

Ryou couldn't help but smile at the exchange, still waiting for Malik to complete the charm. He watched as heads of hair were changing colour one by one around the room – blues, reds, greens, purples – one person even got all the colours of the rainbow streaked through their locks. Someone with black hair began strolling towards them – Ryou assumed the teacher had demonstrated the charm on herself while he wasn't looking.

He turned back to Malik, who was still mumbling the charm again and again with a frustrated frown. But...Ryou could hardly hear him. All sounds in the room were growing dim and fuzzy, as though they were on the radio and the signal was breaking up. The only thing that resonated was the steady clip of hard-soled shoes walking towards him.

Moving like he would under water, he turned back to see the black-haired person – a woman – approaching still. Her bangs dripped forward, obscuring their eyes and her skin was even paler than Ryou's, contrasting strongly with the bright red lipstick that painted her lips. It seemed as though the world around them froze, leaving just the woman in motion and Ryou gawking in confusion.

She came right up to him and leaned down to level their eyes – his muscles refused the instinct to back away, to run. She was bad news – stay away! A slow smile drew her lips back over small white teeth. "So, you're all grown up now?" Her voice was high and poisonous. "Good to see you again, Ry-Ry."

Something in the back of Ryou's mind itched with the familiarity of this person – another old memory? But he couldn't ever imagine consorting with a girl like this. "Who...?"

"Yeah! I did it!" The girl disappeared, time began to flow, sound resumed. Malik was grinning from ear to ear, staring at him in expectation. At Ryou's lack of response, he placed his hands on his hips in a mock-aggravated stance, clucking his tongue. "Okay, way to piss on my bonfire." He shook his head. "Penny for your thoughts?"

Ryou shook his head. He didn't know why, but telling his friend about what he had just experienced seemed like a bad idea. A _really_ bad idea. Something in his gut told him that if anyone found out about that girl all hell would break loose. "Oh, sorry! Just spaced out for a bit. You took ages, you know?"

Malik chuckled and shrugged. "Like to see how you do. Don't you want to see yourself?"

"Oh, yeah." He'd forgotten that his hair must have changed. "Let's have a look." He took the mirror being offered to him and glanced at his reflection, gasping at what he saw.

"What? Don't you like it?" Malik asked.

"Oh...it's fine. I just..." His hair was now jet black, accentuating the curves of his face and hollow of his cheeks. "I look like my sister."

**XxXxXxXxXxX**

"You look...um...different." Bakura stared at Ryou, trying to shake the feeling that he'd seen him like that before. "You dye your hair?"

"No." Malik answered for him. "I mastered the cosmo charm and used it on him while you skipped class."

"Skipped? I was practically being molested by the medi-witch!"

"You mean treated." Yugi giggled nervously.

"Molested, treated – same difference."

"How's your back now, then?" Marik asked, peering behind his best friend to see for himself. "Looks better."

"Yeah, they used some kind of paste for a few hours which healed it up quite nicely – should be back before last lesson."

"Oh good." Yugi smiled in his direction. "We'll see you in the dorms then. You've got Magical Model Making, right?"

"Yeah..." Bakura's eyes trailed over to Ryou, who's heart had jumped right into his throat. They were going to spend a whole lesson together – alone. Why did that preoccupy his thoughts more than the creepy girl that had appeared before him? Heat rose to his cheeks when he remembered how he had spent the whole night in Bakura's arms and left in the morning without saying a word to him. Yeah...he had a lot to explain to Bakura...besides, what happened in Charms was probably just a daydream. But still...

"You look a lot like someone I used to know." Bakura said. Ryou looked up to see him staring at his hair. What did he mean by that? "Like..."

"Hey, its time to go." Marik pointed at the clock above Bakura's bed. "See you after school?"

Bakura nodded and waved them out, still gazing at Ryou. "Bye...see you in MMM, Ryou."

_Oh God..._


	9. With You

**Hmm...this chapter was so hard to write it's not even funny. But it's done now and I'm really happy with it :) Enjoy!**

**1wildrose1 .. x**

_**Rating:**_ NC-17  
_**Pairing (s):**_ Bakura/Ryou, Marik/Malik, Yami/Yugi.  
_**Spoilers:**_ None.  
_**Disclaimer:**_ I don't own Yugioh or any of the characters...sadface...  
_**Summary:**_ I never thought that Izumi Academy would change me so much - I mean, who would have thought that I, of all people, would fall for a guy? And all of these things that have been happening...if I didn't know better, I'd swear someone was out to kill me!

_**Warnings:**_ Shounen-ai (Male/male relationships), Yaoi (Male/male sexual relationships – though there will be forewarning of the chapters that contain the explicit stuff), Language, plus if you see it as a warning, OOC-ness.

Yami Marik = Marik, Marik = Malik, Yami Bakura = Bakura, Bakura = Ryou.

_**Chapter Nine – With You**_

"Um...hi." Bakura offered a small smile to the smaller boy sitting next to him. So much had happened between them in such a short time, he was surprised that Ryou would have even considered being so close to him – but there he was, staring at the wooden workbench uncomfortably and occupying his hands with his textbook.

"Hey." Ryou seriously thought that his heart was going to burst from his chest – _how can he not hear it?_ The last time they were alone together, they had basically made out, received identical tattoos – which still had not disappeared – and slept in the same bed for the night – not to mention the fact that he had left the room the next morning without a word to Bakura. Ryou couldn't believe that he didn't hate him already – or maybe he did and just hid it _really_ well. There was a small pile of colourful glass in the middle of their shared workbench and a well-worn sheet of paper with a design of some kind on it. "What are we making?"

"What?" Bakura blinked in confusion before glancing down to where Ryou was looking – it was the project he had been working on for over three weeks on his own. Everyone else paired up for MMM but he preferred to work by himself – Ryou being the exception of course – but the teacher asked if Ryou could join him so he would get a portion of the grade, seeing as they were too far into the project for him to start completely fresh. Of course Bakura accepted, looking for any excuse to get Ryou to talk to him again. "Oh, right. It's kind of like a stained-glass dream catcher, except it actually works – it keeps bad dreams and spirits away while your sleeping. My mum made me one before she left and my dad taught me the charms that she used on it – I thought I could give it a go."

Ryou nodded and reached out to touch one of the pieces, stopping just short to look up and see Bakura's reaction. "May I?" He just nodded and leant back, allowing Ryou to pick up the largest piece, which turned out to be a slice of emerald-coloured glass that had been skilfully hand-crafted into the silhouette of an imp-like creature – a faerie of some kind – holding a child in its arms, wings spread, face to the heavens. The other pieces were just as detailed and delicate – a deer, several flowers, butterflies. They all looked like they fit together perfectly to create a woodland scene from a fairytale. Somehow, it didn't seem girly or strange for Bakura to have created something like this – it almost seemed like something that he was born to make, to design. _For me_. "This...Bakura these are beautiful."

Bakura shrugged a little and bit the inside of his cheek. "It's not anything special – just something that popped up in my head." _What a lie_. He'd had that drawing for years, having had designed it after one of his 'episodes' of feeling like he knew someone that he had never met before. He'd just had the sudden urge to make it three weeks ago, for no real reason, and the MMM assignment of 'Creativity and Fantasy' gave him the excuse and opportunity to do so.

"Even so." Ryou turned the pieces over in his hands gently, furrowing his brow. "I kind of feel like I've seen that design before." He gestured the faerie-with-child that lay in front of Bakura. "Couldn't tell you where, though."

_What?_ It was all Bakura could do not to jump up and shout in surprise. Ryou was beginning to remember things like he was? Even if it was only vague, he was glad that he wasn't the only one getting those memories and thoughts that he had never had before. "I wouldn't think so – I designed it myself."

Ryou's head snapped around to face him, almost gasping when he found their faces within inches of each other – obviously Bakura had leant forward during their conversation. He didn't want to seem awkward, so he backed away slowly, trying to seem casual – probably failing miserably. "O-oh, I see. I guess that's just another weird little memory then." He nearly slapped himself when he saw the shocked look on Bakura's face – _way to keep it a secret. _"Um...I mean...I..."

"You said you didn't get those memories." Bakura frowned and leant back in his chair – he was sure he asked Ryou about his memories when they had gone down to the lake together and Ryou didn't have a clue what he was talking about. Was he lying?

"I...um..." Ryou bit his lip – he'd forgotten about the fact that Bakura had asked him about his own recollection of people because he had been wrapped up in his own problems. _I'm such an idiot_ – of course he could tell Bakura. Why did he ever think that he shouldn't? "I didn't when you asked me before. But recently I've been having dreams and visions about things that have never happened before – they're so vivid. They freaked me out at first. Actually, they started just after..."

Suddenly, everything made sense to Bakura. He closed his eyes and smiled. "Just after I kissed you in the lake?"

"Yeah..." He tapped his nails against the tabletop, feeling like an absolute moron for not telling him sooner – he obviously understood. "I'm sorry."

Bakura shook his head, still smiling. "You reacted better than I did first time." He glanced around the room to see everyone working on their projects and chatting to each other – just being normal students. "Maybe we should talk about it later on?"

Ryou followed Bakura's line of sight and noticed Jou sitting near the back of the room next to a tall brunette with icy blue eyes. "Who's that next to Jou?" He asked Bakura, waving back to his blond friend who had spotted him looking and grinned – the other guy looked up for a moment to study Ryou's face before turning back to his project, expression unchanging.

"Who, the moody one?" Ryou nodded, making Bakura tilt his head and smirk. "That's Seto Kaiba."

_Seto?_ "You mean Malik's...?"

"The one and only." Bakura turned back around to their workbench and began to arrange the glass designs into a circular form, each fitting together perfectly. "Personally, I couldn't believe that they actually went out. I mean, Malik is all about seeing the positive side of things and having fun and that – but Seto...well, he won't win any Mr. Personality competitions."

"Oh...I see." Ryou tore his eyes away from the brunette and watched Bakura work. "Is there anything I can do?"

Bakura nodded his head in the direction of a plastic bag filled with ropes, ribbons, beads and feathers. "You can braid together some ribbons for the bottom of it if you like."

Ryou nodded and pulled the bag towards him, as well as the paper with the design. The drawing was perfectly detailed, with tiny measurements and notes of colours written all around it. In the corner was a little scribble-like note which – upon closer inspection – turned out to be an Arabic phrase. It looked just like..."The tattoo!"

"Eh?" Bakura looked up from what he was doing and saw what Ryou was holding. "What tattoo?"

"The one on my stomach and your hand." He held it up for Bakura to see.

Bakura frowned at the writing, comparing it to the tattoo on his hand. "Hey, you're right. But...I don't even remember writing that on it."

"Really?" Ryou pursed his lips and smoothed the paper out on the table. Had it been part of Bakura's memory back then? Or was he just pretending not to know it was there and had just drawn it after it appeared on his skin? _No, that wouldn't make sense – there would be no reason to do that_. "Well, I guess it's just something else to talk about later."

"I guess..." Bakura shrugged and went back to work. For the next fifty minutes, they worked and made small talk – the awkwardness still present, though reduced. By the end of the lesson, Bakura had wound a thick ring of rope around the circular woodland scene, glueing it all together with an adhesive spell and Ryou had made several plaits with beads and feathers attached. "Well, next lesson we can join them and start of the protective charms."

Ryou smiled guiltily. "I feel bad taking credit for some of this – you did all the work."

Bakura kept his eyes focused on the parts of their dream catcher as he wrapped the glass in protective packaging and put each part away in their designated cupboard underneath the bench. "Maybe...but you inspired it."

"Oh..." Ryou didn't know what to say to that. "I..."

"Time's up for today!" The teacher beamed around the room, hugging her own bulging stomach in glee. "_Excellent_ work, everyone."

Ryou's eyebrows rose at her out of place enthusiasm and tilted his head towards Bakura, who just shrugged as if it was a usual occurrence. The two left the room together and made their way to the dorms, with Jou and several other west-wing occupants. Bakura tapped his shoulder and gestured a side corridor which lead the complete opposite direction to where the others were going. "But that's the wrong way, isn't it?"

Even so he followed Bakura through the door and down the series of winding passageways. "No, it's a short cut. No one else really uses it because they can never remember which way to go." Ryou could understand that, seeing as at least four corridors lead away from each other at every fork that they met – he himself was getting lost and he had a guide! "Plus Seto was following us and staring at you weirdly, so I thought it would be better to lose him. You can never know what that guy is planning."

"What?" Ryou panted, trying to keep up with Bakura's longer legs as they strode deeper into the stone labyrinth. "Why was he following? He's in the east-wing, isn't he?"

"Yeah – how'd you know?"

"Malik told me the other day when we went down to breakfast."

Bakura threw a surprised look over his shoulder. "Malik actually talked about him willingly? Wow, that's a first." Suddenly, he stopped at a dead end and sighed, turning to lean against one of the walls.

Ryou frowned, looking around. "Why have we stopped?"

"The door is hiding. Don't worry, it won't take long for it to be in the mood to appear." Bakura pointed at the blank stone wall opposite him. "Doesn't often happen, but it be more than ten minutes."

"Oh..." Mood? Door? Was he being serious? He turned in a slow circle, observing the brightly coloured tapestries and paintings. He could feel Bakura's eyes on the back of his head as he turned – _why don't I feel uncomfortable? _"It's really beautiful – the castle."

"Yeah, it is." Bakura smiled a little at Ryou as he completed the circle and was back facing him. "The whole Malik-Seto thing is something that you're going to have to find out about for yourself because it's really not my place to say. But I will tell you this: don't trust him. If he's interested enough in you to follow you in the opposite direction of his own dorm, then be on your guard."

"But he might have been walking with Jou." Ryou stared at his feet, confused about why such a perfect stranger would have such an interest in him.

"Maybe." Bakura sighed and surveyed the still-bare wall. "Either way, be careful."

A pregnant silence hung in the air between them as they waited for the door, avoiding each other's eyes as they glanced around the room. After a while, Ryou became uneasy, thinking about the implications of what Bakura had said – _what exactly did that Seto guy do? _The whole deal with the tattoo had been playing on his mind, as well. What exactly did it mean? It seemed to him that Bakura knew more about it than he was letting on. "Bakura?"

"Hmm?" Bakura was nearer to him than before, after pushing away from the wall.

"What do the tattoos mean?" The tapestry behind him felt soft on his back and palms which lay flat against it as Bakura came closer. "What do they say."

He was soon right up against him, not touching, but near enough to feel his hot breath on his face. "I don't know how I know..." Their eyes met as a silent – intimate – message passed between them. "It says 'Eternally One'."

"Oh..." If he'd had the sense to be embarrassed, Ryou would have slapped himself for not finding anything to say other than 'oh', which he was pretty sure he'd said about twenty times that day. But any coherent thought was tossed aside as Bakura's lips came within millimetres of his own – it was times like these that he didn't seem like the Bakura he knew. He seemed more confident and sure of himself – enough to do _this_ to Ryou out of the blue, anyway.

Ryou's hands instinctively rose to grip Bakura's shoulders as their breath mingled and became heavy. "Don't you remember?" His deep voice resonated through his mind, making his lips tingle with the vibrations.

"I..." Just as Bakura began to close the distance between their lips, there was a loud grinding noise and the whole corridor shook, making Ryou gasp. "What was that?"

"The door's back." Bakura frowned, disappointed to be interrupted, but he knew the moment was over. _At least he's letting me near him_. He backed away and held out his hand for Ryou to take. "Shall we get back?"

**XxXxXxXxXxX**

Ryou lay in bed for hours, staring at the ceiling, deep in thought. He hadn't exactly hated it when he was mashed up against the wall with Bakura – in fact, he had been frustrated when the door had interrupted them. And...that tattoo...those words...were so familiar. Like from a dream. He now felt restless – like he had an itch that he just couldn't scratch. That magnetic feeling was back, tugging at him, urging him out of the room and towards Bakura.

Before he knew what was happening, he was standing bare-foot outside Bakura's bedroom door, fist raised. Ryou froze – _what am I doing?_ Before he could knock, the wood disappeared from in front of him and he was face-to-face with the very man who was occupying his thoughts so thoroughly.

Bakura's mocha eyes scanned Ryou's gawking face, raising his eyebrows questioningly. After several minutes, he stepped aside and waved a hand behind him. "You want to come in?"

That was it – the thing to make up his mind. Ryou launched himself at the taller man, wrapping his arms around his neck, crushing their lips together. Bakura needed no further invitation – he kicked the door shut and spun them around, pushing Ryou against the wall. _This kiss...I know it_. Ryou's hands clenched in Bakura's hair as their tongues clashed, both boys pressing themselves closer and closer. Fingers massaged the small of Ryou's back – a sensitive spot he didn't even know he had – making him moan unexpectedly, causing him to open his mouth further to Bakura's ministrations.

Suddenly, Bakura pulled back, gasping, and brought his hands up to Ryou's face, cupping his cheeks lovingly. "You remember."


	10. Tainted

**Sorry about the mega late update, but real-world things have cropped up – I'll try to find as much time as possible for my stories though! Six more chapters to go...I'm going to miss this story but I may bring it back in a sequel...or two...Enjoy!**

**1wildrose1 .. x**

_**Rating:**_ NC-17  
_**Pairing (s):**_ Bakura/Ryou, Marik/Malik, Yami/Yugi.  
_**Spoilers:**_ Marik's plan in Battle City I guess...  
_**Disclaimer:**_ I don't own Yugioh or any of the characters...sadface...  
_**Summary:**_ When Ryou first got his scholarship to a private magic school, it seemed that all he had to deal with was a new form of magic - but soon he has to contend with unforeseen problems, from romance to wing rivalries to something altogether more sinister...

_**Warnings:**_ Shounen-ai (Male/male relationships), Yaoi (Male/male sexual relationships – though there will be forewarning of the chapters that contain the explicit stuff), Language, plus if you see it as a warning, OOC-ness.

Yami Marik = Marik, Marik = Malik, Yami Bakura = Bakura, Bakura = Ryou.

**WARNING! Heavy petting and an almost-lime!**

_**Chapter Ten – Tainted**_

"Kura..." Small whimpers left Ryou's lips as his neck was ravished by a hungry mouth – kissing, nipping, sucking. Fingers pressed into the small of his back, massaging the sensitive points that lay there – the action pulled him closer to the heated body before him, encasing him into a cocoon of heat and skin and tongue and teeth. He was losing himself – his mind and sense – and he really didn't care.

That magnetic force was back, completely negating the reason why he had appeared at Bakura's door in the first place – instead of lessening the pull, as it did that night in the infirmary, their closeness intensified it, keeping Ryou's hands set firmly within the other's hair and onto his skin. It made him skim the pads of his fingers along the base of Bakura's neck, caressing the protruding vertebral nub at the top of his spine, causing him to groan. Suddenly, he pulled back, breathing heavily, and gazed at Ryou, eyes twinkling playfully. "God...I remember so many things about you...what you like – you clearly do too?"

Ryou nodded, swallowing around his suddenly dry mouth. "Remember things I like?" He didn't even know what he 'liked' himself, assuming that he had understood the innuendo correctly. He had never been experimental with his own body, so he had no idea what would feel good – other than the straightforward stuff, of course. The idea of being that way around Bakura made his heart pound and stomach twist.

"Yeah..." Ryou gasped when hands found their way to the front of his long bed shirt as Bakura's face disappeared into his neck once again. The buttons were slowly undone and he found himself being pulled towards the bed in the centre of the room. "I'll show you if you want."

Ryou nodded, not trusting his voice, as he was pressed into the cool silky sheets. His tongue felt like cotton, jamming to the roof of his mouth – his heart hammered loudly against his eardrums. He felt breathless – numb – at the feel of Bakura parting the front of his bed shirt, exposing his chest and stomach completely, leaving him in only boxers. Bakura took in the sight appreciatively and smiled when he saw Ryou's face. "You're bright red, Ry...You sure you want to do this? You don't have to."

Ryou let out a nervous laugh, pleased with Bakura's concern, and nodded. "Yes, I want to." He used the hand still tangled in the other's hair to pull him down into another searing kiss – all the better to calm his nerves. Soon, he felt fingers glide down his sides, trailing down his ribs, before changing course to dip into the lightly defined contours across the plane of his stomach – the path was quickly retraced by Bakura's lips once he pulled out of the kiss to nip and lick Ryou's skin.

Ryou squirmed underneath him, gasping when teeth scraped his nipples, biting his lip at the steadily lowering touches. A soft cry left him as his thighs were parted and the sensitive inner flesh was brushed deliberately with circulating thumbs – once again, lips followed, pausing only to kiss the small tattoo above Ryou's navel, before proceeding to press his lips to where he had been caressing. Slowly, Bakura pushed up the leg of Ryou's boxers, locating a patch of skin precariously close to a certain area and began nipping and sucking at it. A string of moans and whimpers streamed from Ryou the moment he found that spot – apparently Bakura really did know what he liked.

All the while, his hand began to pad up Ryou's other leg, getting closer and closer to the very obvious bulge in the front of his boxers. Just as his fingers come within mere millimetres from their target, a shrill screech resonated through the room – it became cold and the air seemed to throb with fury. The two on the bed started and jumped up, looking around the room for the source of the scream.

"_How dare you defile him!_" A high voice shrieked – it sounded tinny, like it was being broadcast through an ancient radio. A woman with jet black hair appeared in the centre of the room, baring her teeth aggressively and gesturing wildly at Bakura. Her image flickered and jolted as though she was a TV show with poor reception.

Ryou gasped audibly, backing away into the headboard and attempting to cover himself with the pillows. "It's you! From before!"

The woman did not even acknowledge that he had spoken – she kept her vicious gaze on Bakura, seeming to curl her lip back in spite. "_Keep your filthy hands off of him or suffer the consequences_."

"What the hell...who are you?" Bakura growled, clambering off the bed and standing between the snarling woman and Ryou.

"_I am she who will protect his innocence from the likes of you_." Her image began to flicker in and out of focus more rapidly than before.

"Get out of my room, you crazy bitch – no women on campus after hours." Bakura did what he always did in any situation that he didn't understand – insult them and stick to whatever made sense to him. Ryou made this analysis without even meaning to, once again finding something new about him subconsciously.

The woman turned to Ryou at long last and her face twisted into something akin to a smile – but it was too...manufactured to look genuine. "_You have grown up fast, Ry-Ry. I'll be with you soon_."

White noise pierced the room and she disappeared, leaving nothing behind but a faint ringing in the boys' ears. Bakura blinked rapidly and swivelled on the spot, numbly ensuring that she wasn't hiding in some corner of the room. When Bakura finally crawled back onto the bed, facing Ryou, he raised his eyebrows and ran his fingers through his hair. "Friend of yours?"

Ryou frowned at him and curled around the pillow he was holding. "No, of course not." He shook his head and nibbled the tip of his thumb. "She turned up yesterday, as well – in Charms. Time sort of slowed down and no one else saw her even though she was just standing there plain as day."

Bakura sighed and flopped down beside him on the pillows, peering up at him through his fringe. "You saw her before? Why didn't you tell me?"

"I don't know – I just had a feeling something bad would happen if I did. Besides," He stretched his shoulders back and met Bakura's gaze coyly. "I had other things on my mind at the time. I kind of...forgot."

"Forgot? About a girl that freaky?" Bakura's eyes widened seriously as he rolled onto his side towards the other.

Ryou let out a small chuckle and shrugged. "I guess. Um..." He bit his lip lightly and brushed a stray lock from Bakura's face. "Maybe we should...continue another time. I don't want her to come back."

Bakura groaned miserably but agreed quickly. "What was her deal? What's it got to do with her if me and you decide to do that? Silly cow." He got up to retrieve Ryou's shirt for him. When he passed it over, he smirked at the large bruise-like mark on the other's inner thigh. "Still got my stamp on you though."

"What?" Ryou looked down and blushed heavily, pulling down the pushed up fabric. He pulled his night shirt on, worrying his lip again over what had just occurred. "Is it okay if I stayed in here tonight? She seems to have an unhealthy interest in me and I don't want to see if she'll want to talk to me alone."

Bakura nodded and pulled the blankets back for him. "Of course."

They spent the night close to each other, falling asleep holding hands to keep contact at all times, praying that they really were alone in that room.

_**XxXxXxXxXxX**_

"Oh. My. God!" Malik squealed and reached over the dining table to pull at Ryou's collar. "Now who, pray tell, gave you _that_?" He jabbed his finger at a purple mark which had been hidden under Ryou's robes until he had shifted slightly.

The other blushed deeply and pulled out of his friend's grip, looking around to ensure that no one was listening in. They were quite alone on that section of the table due to the early hour that they had arrived and the fact that Yugi had not felt up to eating – he was still anxious over the whole Yami situation. Leaning forward, Ryou dropped his voice to a whisper. "Who do you bloody well think?"

Malik rocked back and forth on the bench, rapping his knuckles against the tabletop excitedly. "Ah ha! I knew it, I knew it – you couldn't stay mad at him forever!"

"I was never mad at him – just confused about the situation..."

"Not this nonsense about 'memories' again." Malik sighed and sipped at his coffee. "Ry, you've got to let that go because I think you were just stressed out at the time – you can't place any validity on those hallucinations."

"Hmm." Ryou rubbed his face in annoyance, but let it slide. Malik obviously thought that Ryou had been having some kind of stress related breakdown when he had told him why he had run away. He really didn't have the energy to argue this early in the morning, so he just let it be – besides, it only mattered that Bakura understood and believed him. "If you want to see it that way."

Malik eyed him suspiciously over his mug – obviously seeing through Ryou's passivity – but let it drop. He shook his head and brought back their previous conversation. "So are the two of you together now or what?"

Ryou frowned and occupied his hands by tearing apart his piece of toast. "I...well, I don't know. We didn't really get round to talking about it."

That huge grin was back on Malik's face as he squealed happily. "Ooh! Really? Well, now I know what _you two_ were up to last night..."

"No!" Ryou blushed and looked away. "No, we didn't go that far – we got...close."

The blond stuck his lip out in a firm pout and crossed his arms. "Aw, Ry – why not?"

There it was again – that feeling that told him not to tell anyone about that woman. "Hey, don't judge me! It's not like I've ever done anything like that before."

Malik shook his head, laughing at Ryou's defensiveness. "I know, I know – I was only joking." He looked at his wristwatch and groaned. "Damn – we've got class."

The two boys finished their breakfast quickly and rushed out of the dining hall, going their separate ways on the third floor. This was the first lesson of Telepathy that Ryou had ever had – seeing as it had never been offered at his previous school – and he was rather excited, albeit nervous to be in the room without anyone he knew.

He entered the rounded room and was hit instantly by the calming aroma that filled the room – whether natural or magical, he didn't know. He was relieved to spot Jou sitting on one of the mounds of cushions, waving him over with a grin. "Hey, Ryou. I didn't know you took Telepathy."

Ryou nodded and settled himself beside the blond, feeling a little more at ease than ordinary – an affect of the calming musk, he assumed. "Yeah, I thought it would be interesting." He looked around, noting that their pile of cushions still had sizeable spaces to sit on. "Who else sits with you?"

"Oh, usually a few North Wing guys and a couple of East – I know, we're supposed to be rivals, but whatever." He gestured around the room. "If North and South can get on in this room, so can East and West. Although, I do suspect that the serenity spells that are all around keeps arguments down."

"Yeah, I noticed them – why do we need to be calm?"

Jou furrowed his eyebrows and looked at Ryou sceptically. "You haven't ever done Telepathy, have you?" Ryou shook his head. "Well, you need a level head to do it – even then it's really difficult."

"I see." Ryou cast his eyes around the room once again, spotting a few familiar faces – one of which made him gasp and turn away. "Seto takes this class too?"

Jou looked up and waved at the aforementioned brunette who was currently making his slow way across the room towards them. "Yeah. Why the shock?" Jou narrowed his eyes playfully and grinned. "You have a little crush on him?"

Ryou rolled his eyes, trying to hide the indignant flush that spread across his cheeks by busying himself with getting a textbook out of his bag. "Really, really, really no."

Jou frowned at his sudden frostiness. "He's not that bad looking...Hey, Seto."

Ryou looked up to find said boy standing over them with a neutral expression on his face. He nodded in acknowledgement at Jou's greeting and took up a seat without a word, ignoring Ryou completely. Soon, the room filled up and the trio were joined by several more students, some of which Ryou recognised at least by name. Jou introduced new arrivals as Otogi, Honda – two people which Yugi had mentioned previously – Ryota, Masaki and Yori. They were all perfectly friendly towards Ryou, despite knowing that he was from West Wing – then again, they were friends with Jou, who was also from West. These were possibly one of the few groups of people Ryou had met that didn't care about wing rivalries, and the peace was extremely refreshing to him – he couldn't see why Malik and Yugi had such a low view of these guys.

"So, Ryou," Otogi started, settling himself with the rest of the group. "what made a nice guy like you hang out with the biggest social outcasts going?"

Ryou blinked in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"I mean the twelfth floor West Wingers – Bakura and Marik and that."

At that, Ryou tensed his shoulders and tightened his jaw. "Because I room there too and they happen to be very good friends."

Jou laughed nervously and elbowed Otogi in the ribs. "Leave your personal feelings out of this – he's got nothing to do with your petty arguments."

Otogi raised his eyebrows and shrugged. "Fair enough – no foul." He rubbed his side and pouted. "And ouch, by the way."

Jou snorted, but refrained from retorting at the sight of their teacher wandering into the room. "Hello, class." She sighed dreamily. "Today, I would like you to work in pairs on telepathically conversing about the weather. As you may know, different conversational subjects have different levels of difficulty to pass across the mental planes. All of you need practice on external subjects." She leisurely stroked a flowing purple scarf that was wrapped around her hair. "Mr. Bakura, perhaps you should pair with an advanced student seeing as you are new to this subject. Seto, would you care to guide him?"

_Ah, crap..._ Ryou hadn't forgotten Malik's hate for the guy or Bakura's warning about him – they had to be for a reason and Ryou really didn't want to find out what. Then again, he couldn't deny that small part of him that was intrigued by his icy exterior. Seto turned his head slightly, focusing his cold blue eyes on Ryou for the first time since he entered the room and nodded minutely. "Of course."

The teacher smiled lightly and waved to the room in general. "To your work, class." With that, she strolled to a small pile of pillows and seated herself, gazing around the room, eyes unfocused.

Ryou ignored Jou's small smirk as he flitted off with his partner, along with everyone else, leaving Ryou and Seto quite alone. He squirmed under the brunette's intense gaze and cleared his throat pointedly. "Uh, so what do I do first?"

The question seemed to animate the other slightly – to put at least a little life into him as he seemed unable to resist the urge to teach. "You must clear your mind and encourage your magic to join with your thoughts – only then will you be able to be receptive to anyone else's thoughts."

"Ah, okay." Ryou closed his eyes and concentrated hard, expecting it to be unnatural to him. Surprisingly, he managed to grasp the concept after only a few tries. "Hey, it seems I'm better at this than flying."

Seto did not smile. "Now, you have magic tuned into your thoughts, you need to close your eyes and listen to my frequency."

"Frequency?"

"Yes, each wizard who is capable of Telepathy has their own unique frequency and when you want to have a conversation Telepathically, you need to tune into the other wizard. We don't learn how to do a multi-way conversation until next year."

"Oh...okay." Ryou pursed his lips and tilted his head. "How will I know that I've got the right frequency?"

"You have to think about speaking to me and my frequency will be the only non-fuzzy one."

Ryou nodded and closed his eyes, instinctively tapping into his magic to span the frequencies running through the room. He didn't know how he was doing it – he assumed it was another kind of magic that he hadn't encountered yet, one that helped the wizard perform the skills instinctively. After sorting through seemingly endless channels of white noise, he finally found a clear one and decided to test the waters. _"Hello?"_

"_Well, done – you learn fast." _Seto'svoice sounded robotic, even in his head.

"_Uh...so there has been a lot of sun recently."_

"_You have been avoiding me."_

Ryou started and blinked in confusion._ "Excuse me?" _He kept talking Telepathically, seeing as he had gone to the trouble of tuning into him.

"_You have never spoken to me and yet you have been avoiding me. Why?"_

There didn't seem to be any point in lying to him._ "I have heard some bad things about you."_

"_Bad things? Like what?" _His exterior remained cool and collected – just like they were conversing about the weather, as they had been told.

"_Like how you're cold and uncaring...and how you acted when you dated Malik."_

Ryou expected a strong reaction when he mentioned Malik, but all he got was a mild sigh._ "That boy is the bane of my existence, I swear."_

"_Why? All he did was mention that you went out." _A white lie at most. _"What happened there then, if it isn't something that would make me want to avoid you?"_

"_He hasn't told you? Perhaps there is a reason for that." _Seto smirked and continued._ "Then again, I have never been one to consider feelings, as my reputation insists. Yes, I dated Malik while he was in public school – he was away and could not jeopardise my image. As soon as he got a scholarship here, I ended it – a gay relationship doesn't do well in the public eye."_

"_Liar." _Ryou frowned and sat back a little, allowing the serenity spells help him grow accustomed to the person he was talking to._ "There are many gay relationships here and there's hardly a flock of paparazzi at the doors – Headmaster Tatsuya would never allow it. What's the real reason you broke up with him?" _Ryou paused, remembering something that Malik had said the first time they had spoken about Seto – about how he got what he wanted and left him._ "Is it because he finally let you sleep with him?"_

At that Seto let out a bark of stiff laughter._ "No, of course not." _He tilted his head towards the back of Jou's head._ "I got the information I needed from him to sleep with Jou."_

Ryou shrunk back in shock._ "What?" _Suddenly, all the rivalries and seemingly petty arguments made sense to him – Seto had dumped Malik for his friend._ "How could you do that to him?"_

"_Easily – it was never serious." _He smirked, his face filling with the most emotion he had ever seen him produce – he preferred the emotionless void to this maliciousness._ "And now, I have my eye on you."_

Ryou puffed up in anger._ "Well, look somewhere else. I would never go for you – you're just a horrible human being."_

"_Perhaps." _Seto smiled – it looked so fake. So much like the one the mysterious woman who kept on appearing bore._ "But I will have you – no matter what Bakura says."_

"_Well, what Bakura says can wait – I'm saying no."_

"_You would think that would stop me." _Seto stood abruptly and severed the connection. "Well, done today – you got the gist pretty quickly." With that, he swept out of the classroom, leaving Ryou to gawk after him.

"I know – it's crazy how time flies when your talking in your head. You actually talk a lot slower Telepathically than you realise." Ryou jumped when Jou approached him from behind and swirled round in shock. "Hey, I'm not that scary, am I?"

Ryou didn't know what to say to him – this guy had been so kind to him for all the time he had known him that Ryou had thought Malik was exaggerating their differences. It was terrible to know what he had done to his friend. He jumped up, mind reeling at what he had learned. "I have to go – Foreseeing."

He rushed from the room, ignoring Jou's confused calls. "But we're in the same class!"


	11. The Ties That Bind Us

**Hmm...change of plan – I'm combining three of my planned chapters in this one and two of them next chapter because I just realise how little substance they would have on their own XD That means Izumi Academy is over next chapter...until I write the sequel...and prequel ;) Enjoy!**

**1wildrose1 .. x**

_**Rating:**_ NC-17  
_**Pairing (s):**_ Bakura/Ryou, Marik/Malik, Yami/Yugi.  
_**Spoilers:**_ Marik's plan in Battle City I guess...  
_**Disclaimer:**_ I don't own Yugioh or any of the characters...sadface...  
_**Summary:**_ When Ryou first got his scholarship to a private magic school, it seemed that all he had to deal with was a new form of magic - but soon he has to contend with unforeseen problems, from romance to wing rivalries to something altogether more sinister...

_**Warnings:**_ Shounen-ai (Male/male relationships), Yaoi (Male/male sexual relationships – though there will be forewarning of the chapters that contain the explicit stuff), Language, plus if you see it as a warning, OOC-ness.

Yami Marik = Marik, Marik = Malik, Yami Bakura = Bakura, Bakura = Ryou.

_**Chapter Eleven – The Ties That Bind Us**_

Ryou clutched his knees close to his chest, biting the tip of his thumb, with his back to the wall of the corridor Bakura had led him to the day before. He was well ahead in Foreseeing, having been in an advanced class at his old school, and could afford to skip this one lesson – a good thing too, because he knew that if he saw Jou or Seto again after running out he would lose it and...he didn't know. He would do _something_ though, and he was afraid of what. How dare they do that to Malik? What did he ever do to deserve it? "Door not here yet?"

Ryou frowned and rolled his head to the side, surprised to see a very familiar person standing there. "Yami?" He looked so miserable – eyes downcast and sunken, face thin and gaunt. He hadn't even spiked his hair up – just let it droop sadly around his shoulders. "Yeah, I think it's been there a while – I'm just...sitting."

He nodded slowly and shifted uncomfortably. "Oh..."

Ryou patted the ground next him. "You can stay, Yami. It's fine." His eyes focused on the spot sceptically, inching into a slow crouch. He just hovered for a minute on his toes, rocking back and forth, before allowing himself to overbalance backwards into a heavy sit beside Ryou. For a while, silence stretched between them, neither knowing what to say. Eventually, Ryou sighed and voiced a suspicion he had about what had happened the last time they saw each other. "It wasn't you, was it."

He didn't word it as a question, but out of the corner of his eye Ryou saw Yami's pale face snap towards him and heard his breath being released in a gush, like he had been holding it for a long time. "No! It wasn't me! I told him that...I tried to tell you that but they wouldn't let me see you. He didn't believe..." His voice mangled into a choke as he gripped his hair in both hands. "I'm so sorry, Ryou – I'm so sorry. I kept telling her that I couldn't do it, but nothing would..."

"Her?" A dark roiling sensation crept its way into the pit of his stomach, his full attention now on the quivering shell of a boy before him. He clenched his eyes shut, terrified to get the answer he knew he would get. "Who do you mean by her, Yami?"

Yami's eyes widened and darted around rapidly, checking if anyone was around to hear him. "I...I don't know where she came from. One minute, I was flying with Marik and the next...I was in a dark room with some woman with black hair. She started talking to me about how she knew me – knew all of us, actually – and how she wouldn't let 'it' happen again. After that, I kept on seeing things...like the future – I saw me...and Yugi..." When he mentioned Yugi, his eyebrows drew together and he quickly changed the subject. "When it was over, I found myself in the headmaster's office, being asked questions about why I kicked your broom."

Ryou nodded slowly, taking in the fact that not only could Yami see that freaky woman, but he was having memories too. "I know who your talking about – me and Bakura can see her as well." He bit his thumb again absent mindedly. "What do you know about her?"

Once again, Yami's eyes flitted around the space they shared and leaned closer, dropping his voice to a whisper. "Be careful what you say or do...she's everywhere."

Ryou thought of how she appeared in Bakura's bedroom the night before and agreed silently. "Yeah, I noticed – how does she do that?"

Yami's face was pale and pinched, but he pushed through his anxiety. "She uses telepathic frequencies to get around."

_So that's why she looked so distorted_, Ryou thought. He frowned and curled his arms around himself as he had a scary realisation. "Wait...that means that she's in our thoughts."

Yami met his gaze intensely, affirming Ryou's statement with a tiny nod. "Ever wondered why only you could see her? Or why time flows differently when she's there? That's the effect of the jumbled frequencies." He hunched his shoulders uncomfortably. "She's tried planting false memories amongst your real ones whenever you were close to Bakura. Dreadful ones."

That was right...the first memories he'd had of Bakura was of himself begging for mercy, lying lifeless in a pool of his own blood. How had he forgotten about them? Well...maybe in his subconscious mind he knew they weren't real and just mentally cast them aside without realising. But it did seem odd that he would forget the very reason why he and Bakura had taken so long to get together. "Why? Why is she trying to hurt me?"

Yami shook his head rapidly. "No, she's not trying to hurt you."

At that, Ryou raised his eyebrows. "Really? And sabotaging my broom, planting horrific images in my head and threatening me every time I get close to Bakura means that she's trying to make friends, does it?"

"If you lose your virginity to Bakura, she dies."

Ryou stopped moving. "What?" He looked at the serious expression on Yami's face. "H-how on Earth does that work? Some kind of cherry-trigger – one pop and she's gone?"

The solemn look didn't fade as Yami's eyes darted around the room again. Suddenly, his gaze snapped to Ryou, laced with desperation. "Tell this to Yugi – _please_. I need him not to hate me."

Ryou was taken aback by the sudden change in subject and jumped when Yami suddenly gripped his shoulders, his expression wild. He gasped as his fingers dug in deeper, clawing into his skin. "I will! I'll tell him!" Yami released him and collapsed against the wall in relief. "But he doesn't hate you, Yami – he's just confused. Maybe you should talk to him yourself?"

"Aw, Ry-Ry – you always did have the best advice." Ryou froze at the sound of Yami's voice – except, it wasn't his voice any more. It was his lips that were moving, his eyes that calmly focused on Ryou, his face that contorted into a grim smile – but the voice...it was her. "I have missed you."

Ryou scrambled backwards, grabbing blindly at the wall for something to haul himself to his feet with, unable to look away from his friend. "Why are you doing this?"

"I am doing this to protect you from him, Ry-Ry." Yami stood slowly and followed Ryou's backward crawls. "I will not let you lose yourself to him – not again."

Ryou found a nook deep enough to jam his fingertips in and wrench himself upright. "What does it matter to you?"

Yami continued to follow him backwards, step for step. "I'm sure this boy told you." He gestured himself. "I live only in the thoughts of wizards. Specifically in the thoughts of wizards with past lives connected to my own. When I use them to travel, I activate their memories."

Ryou's back hit solid wall as he realised that the door had disappeared again and the only other way out was blocked off by a deranged parasite in the body of his friend – he was trapped. "But...but that means that you've been in Bakura's thoughts for years." He remembered Bakura telling him on their first date about how he thought he knew him, as though from a dream.

"Decades, actually." Yami stood over him, preventing his escape. "Ever since our past lives – since the last time it happened – I was forced to attach to _him_." Yami's face twisted in disgust as she mentioned Bakura. "I couldn't control him though – the remnants of that damn pledge you made to him in the past prevented me from doing so. But I got my chance a few days ago, when he had the nerve to kiss you – I was able to get into your thoughts and remind you of who you are. But those two...Touzoku-ou and Akemi – they established the pledge again before I was able to convince you to stay away from him."

"Touzoku-ou? Akemi? What are you talking about?"

Yami shook his head and glanced over his shoulder at something Ryou couldn't see. "It doesn't matter if you know now – you no longer have a choice. That tattoo on your stomach is a pledge you made to him in your past life, when your name was Akemi. It means that only Touzoku-ou – or Bakura, as he is called now – has the right to claim you as his own. If anyone else takes you first, that bond is broken and I am free to live again."

Ryou's breathing grew shallow and panicky as fear twisted his stomach – what did she mean when she said he didn't have a choice? "Why? Why does it affect you?"

"I didn't want you to marry him – he wasn't good enough. He still isn't. But you was going to any way, ignoring my protests. So I did all I could to stop it from happening and if he got hurt in the process, then so what?" The smile on Yami's face grew more and more malicious. "I got caught, but the deed had been done – he was badly hurt and you couldn't go through with the wedding with him in that condition. It didn't go entirely to plan though – the medi-witch found a way to save him and punish me at the same time, but that involved binding you to him forever. You were all too happy to do so." Ryou yelped as Yami's fist slammed into the wall beside his head. "With your permission, she used my life to fuel his, forcing me to live only in his thoughts, and you gave him your pledge to be with him forever. And then you let the three of us die – to live again in another time. My punishment is complete if you join together in this life – but his begins if you don't."

Ryou raked his nails into the wall behind him, mind reeling to find a way out. He didn't like where this was going, especially when Yami glanced over his shoulder again and smirked. "Who are you?"

He looked back slowly and smirked. "I'm your sister."

Suddenly, he stepped back and was replaced with a much rougher person who gripped his wrists and trapped them above his head, using their other hand to grip his jaw and force him to look up at them. "Seto?"

Said boy scowled and smashed their lips together hard enough to make Ryou taste blood. He couldn't breathe, mind lost to panic. His sister...his _sister_ tried to kill Bakura – or Touzoku-ou, as he was called – and now she was going to watch as Seto raped him. What kind of life must his past self have lead if his family was so messed up?

He cried out as he was thrown forcefully to the ground, landing on his hands and knees. Seto quickly descended upon him, slamming his head into the floor and holding it there while using his free hand to work on his robes. The world began to swim before his eyes from the strength behind the blow, making him only half aware of the fact that his robe had been pushed up to his back and Seto was currently undoing his jeans. Then it hit him. "No! Stop it – _stop it!_" His own screams pierced his ears sharply, but he fought past the pain to try to move his head away from Seto's hand. "Yami! Yami, help!" His eyes darted around, horrified to see that his friend was nowhere to be found. "Help!"

Seto growled angrily at the screams and gripped Ryou's hair with both hands, pulling up and slamming back down with all his strength. Ryou stilled and flickered in and out of consciousness, even less aware of what was happening to him. His lower half was suddenly cold, making his stomach churn in fear, but was far too weak to fight back.

Suddenly, there was a shout; a shift in weight that caused him to roll onto his side; scuffling; weightlessness. Unconsciousness.


	12. واحدة إلى الأبد

**We're at the end of Izumi Academy for now...I hope you had fun reading it. This chapter took mega long to write...Enjoy!**

**1wildrose1 .. x**

_**Rating:**_ NC-17  
_**Pairing (s):**_ Bakura/Ryou, Marik/Malik, Yami/Yugi.  
_**Spoilers:**_ I only just noticed that this spoiler warning doesn't make sense in the previous chapters. I'm sure you've noticed, but this story doesn't actually give away Marik's Battle City plans...it doesn't give anything away, really...  
_**Disclaimer:**_ I don't own Yugioh or any of the characters...sadface...  
_**Summary:**_ When Ryou first got his scholarship to a private magic school, it seemed that all he had to deal with was a new form of magic - but soon he has to contend with unforeseen problems, from romance to wing rivalries to something altogether more sinister...

_**Warnings:**_ Shounen-ai (Male/male relationships), Yaoi (Male/male sexual relationships – though there will be forewarning of the chapters that contain the explicit stuff), Language, plus if you see it as a warning, OOC-ness.

Yami Marik = Marik, Marik = Malik, Yami Bakura = Bakura, Bakura = Ryou.

**WARNING! This chapter is the reason for the M rating – Lime ahead!**

_**Chapter Twelve –**__**واحدة إلى الأبد**_

When he opened his eyes a fraction, all he saw was a blur of grey, spotted with reds, greens and blues here and there. It took him a long moment to realise that he was staring at a wall, moving too fast to make out the tapestries and artwork as he passed. But he wasn't walking...how was he moving?

His body wouldn't respond to his wish to function – he couldn't even open his eyes any further. Soon enough, he was abruptly jolted in a new direction, slamming him into a new, very painful reality. His head was pounding, his wrists burned, his knees throbbed – what on Earth had happened? For the life of him, he couldn't remember what was going on.

Heavy breaths filtered through his thoughts, letting him know that it was a person that was making him move – carrying him? Maybe. That was probably why he was facing the wall – his head draped backwards over this person's arm as he was carried bridal-style. He wanted to cry in pain as his head bounced in time with what he assumed was footsteps, but his body even refused to let him do that.

The journey seemed to last a lifetime of twists and turns and pain, but the bright light of the end eventually appeared. "Ryou!" This time, he was able to groan in pain as the voice sliced through his skull like a blade. "What happened to him?" He felt cool, soft sheets beneath him as he was carefully placed down on a bed.

"You don't want to fucking know." Whoever was speaking sounded _pissed_.

"Marik, what happened?" The other person sounded concerned but firm at the same time – he was determined to know what was going on.

"Bakura, seriously – you _really_ don't want to know."

There was a pause, a growl and a scuffle. "What the _fuck_ happened?"

A frustrated sigh. "I was on my way to class – it's damn lucky I took the hidden route, or who knows what would have happened..." A tense silence followed as Marik tried to ignore the horrific possibilities. "I walked through the door and found him on the floor damn-near unconscious, half naked with that Kaiba kid leaning over him, about to..."

An infuriated roar cut him off. "What? He was about to...!" Something shifted and was slammed back to where it was instantly.

"No – Bakura, he's pretty hurt. You've got to stay with him – I'll deal with Kaiba."

The conversation barely registered in Ryou's shaken mind, but at the mention of Seto, several things began to slot into place. Then..."No!" His voice was much weaker than he thought it would be, but both of the other boys heard him and froze.

"Ryou?" Bakura's blurry face came into his line of vision, giving him something to focus on.

"Not...Seto. That woman...took over...Yami." Marik came slowly into view, looking confused. "Bakura...she killed...Bakura."

White hair fell into his eyes as Bakura shook his head. "I'm here, Ry – definitely not dead. Don't worry yourself."

Ryou groaned in frustration – he just couldn't make them understand with his head in such a frazzled state. "No...that woman...from before...the memories...because of her. She killed...you. Have to give...myself to you...to make her go."

Marik frowned and glanced at Bakura. "Any of this make sense to you?"

Slow comprehension was beginning to appear on Bakura's face. "Yeah, kind of. Um..." He glanced at Marik and briefly explained how the woman had appeared in his room when he and Ryou were being intimate. Marik just furrowed his eyebrows throughout the explanation without interrupting. "I don't know what she wants, but it's something to do with those memories I've always had."

Ryou tried to nod, but grimaced at the pain it caused, instead opting to speak. "Yeah...she lives in...telepathic...frequencies – she's lived in yours...since your past life. Moved to me...when you kissed me at the lake." He was becoming more and more aware of his surroundings by the second.

Bakura nodded, a small glint of recognition in his eyes – did he remember her? "Where is she now?"

Ryou frowned – did he not hear him before? "In Seto...or Yami. One of them...at least."

Marik frowned. "Yami? Does that mean...?"

"Yeah...it wasn't him who...kicked my broom."

He nodded slowly, a small smile of relief on his face. "I thought he'd been acting weird lately – even before all that happened."

"Marik...can you go and distract her...for a while? She can be...stopped, but we need...some time. She'll get in...the way otherwise."

He nodded. "What are you going to do?"

Ryou blushed a little, hoping that the other's would assume it was from the exertion of talking or something. "It's kind of like...a ritual...from our past lives." Not technically a lie, but Ryou still felt guilty.

Marik seemed to accept this and took off out the door, in search of Seto. Bakura watched as the door shut behind him and turned back to the smaller boy on the bed. "So, what do we have to do for this ritual?"

Ryou took a deep breath and reached up to him, gripping onto his shirt. Without a word, he pulled him down for a kiss, opening his lips in invitation. Bakura kissed back for a few moments before pulling back and smiling lightly. "Wow – you must have been scared." He laughed a little, making Ryou frown – he thought that he was only kissing him out of...what? Relief? "So what's this ritual?" Ryou shook his head and pulled him down again, resealing their lips and wrapping his arms around Bakura's neck to hold him there. This time, the kiss lasted a little longer before Bakura pulled back again, keeping his face close. "You're affectionate today."

The smaller boy bit his lip and stared him straight in the eyes. "This is the ritual."

"This?" Bakura smiled and pecked him on the lips. "Well, I wouldn't have thought that getting rid of her would be this easy..." He froze on the way to peck him again. "Wait..." He met Ryou's gaze steadily. "You don't mean...?"

Ryou looked away and nodded. "Yeah, I mean that."

Bakura shook his head and went to move away completely, being prevented from doing so by the arms circling his neck. "Ry, I'm not going to let you give up your virginity like this – no, it's not right."

Ryou's heart squeezed in panic – if he didn't do this Bakura would have the same fate as that woman...his sister. Would he become as sick and twisted as she had? Maybe not, but he just couldn't risk it – he would lose him forever either way. "Kura...please. I don't want...her to win. If she does..." Tears slid down his cheeks as he tried to steady his already frail voice. "I can't lose you again." Ryou blinked at his own words – where did that come from? Lose him again? When did he lose him before? Regardless, Bakura's will was wavering at Ryou's desperation.

"But...you'll regret it if your first time is put under these conditions." Bakura rested his forehead against Ryou's own, breathing deeply.

Ryou frowned and brought his hands down to cup Bakura's face. "I would never regret being with you." He could tell that he was still hesitating, so he sighed and grabbed the other's left hand, guiding it down to rest on his stomach, above the tattoo. "We were together before – in our past life – and we were so in love. That's why we made this pledge to each other, sealed by the tattoos. This...ritual...it will complete it and get rid of her." His voice had regained enough strength to talk almost normally now.

Bakura frowned, staring at the space beside Ryou's head with unfocussed eyes. "I...remember." His eyes flickered a bit, back and forth, like he was watching a movie. Suddenly, he was looking at Ryou again, complete understanding in his eyes. "Ry...are you sure?"

Ryou just smiled, pleased that, even though Bakura remembered what would happen if he didn't do this, he still showed concern for Ryou's feelings. He squeezed the hand on his stomach and smiled nervously. "Completely."

_**XxXxXxXxXxX**_

"Marik?" The man in question skidded to a halt from his sprint, looking around wildly before spotting a confused Malik. "Where are you off to in such a hurry?" Marik motioned him to follow and explained what had happened as they jogged. "Holy shit – are you serious?"

"Serious as a heart attack." He turned the corner, his feet guiding more than his mind and, soon, he found himself heading towards the private dorms which only members of staff and privileged rich kids were entitled to. Of course – Seto would have one of these rooms. He slowed to a walk and turned to Malik with an apologetic smile. "Uh...you have any idea which one of these is Kaiba's?"

Malik grimaced and reluctantly pointed down the corridor to a secluded door with a shiny brass number '13' nailed to it. "Thirteen, huh?" He squared his shoulders in anticipation – he had no idea what was on the other side of that door. "Unlucky for some."

Malik rolled his eyes and pressed his ear to the door, dropping his voice to a whisper. "I can hear someone – no, two people – talking. Wait...one person...no...Oh, whatever, I'm confused – it's like one person talking with an echo."

Marik nodded. "Sounds like Ryou wasn't making it up when he talked about this woman." He motioned Malik to move away and braced himself, ready to ram the door down. "Ready? 1, 2, 3!"

_**XxXxXxXxXxX**_

"Kura..." It was just a sigh, but it was enough to make Bakura glance around the room in case the woman appeared upon hearing it. He internally berated himself and turned back to Ryou, continuing his nibbled path down his chest, tensing at every little noise the one beneath him made. Ryou sighed and looked down with amused eyes. "You're making this really bloody awkward, I hope you know."

Bakura frowned and glanced up at the smiling boy, incredulous that he could be so light-hearted after such events. "You're the one who's making all the sound."

Ryou blushed and shrugged his shoulders, well aware that he was laying on a bed, almost completely naked and _talking_. "If she's going to appear, it's not going to be because of noise, Kura. Besides, Marik's keeping her away."

"That's if he can find her."

"Kura." Ryou pulled him up for a kiss – still unable to move his head too much from the abuse it had received earlier – and massaged the nape of his neck, relaxing him as it always did. "I just want you."

That did it.

_**XxXxXxXxXxX**_

"What the fuck?" Marik stood in the doorway, staring in disbelief at the sight before him – the apparently 'great' Seto Kaiba was whimpering in the corner of the room, cowering away from the figure towering above him. The figure whipped around at the sound of the crashing door, making Malik gasp. "Yami?"

"What are _you two_ doing here?" Yami snarled at them, malice clear in his voice.

Malik stepped into the room, raising his eyebrows at the hunched teen in the corner. "Seto?"

Marik stuck an arm out in front of Malik, preventing him from approaching. "You're not Yami."

The shorter boy looked disinterested at Marik's revelation. "Very perceptive. I ask again, what are you two doing here?"

"We're here to stop you from possessing our friends."

Suddenly, Yami stumbled back, eyes wide, teeth bared. "Liar!" His head snapped up towards the ceiling. "They're sealing the bond."

Marik blinked in confusion. Say what now? He shook off his thoughts and growled, approaching Yami before he could do anything else. "Don't touch her." Marik paused mid-stride and looked towards Seto, who had spoken. "She'll be able to take you over if she touches you."

Marik hesitated, unwilling to take advice from the guy that treated his boyfriend like shit for so long, but he knew he was right. He grit his teeth and drew his wand from his back pocket to aim directly at Yami. "Don't move or I'll be forced to take action."

Yami smirked and drew his own wand. "Take action? I have seen your magical ability through this boy's eyes and I know that you will be unable to defeat me."

"Try me." Marik's stomach twisted in anxiety – he hated to admit it, even to himself, but she was right, he wasn't very good at duel magic. But Ryou had a plan to get rid of her – he just had to pray that it would work before this got out of hand.

Without warning, Yami's hand darted forward as he screamed a curse, the green flash barely missing Marik when he dived out of the way. "Hey!" A red flash flew over Marik's head, scraping Yami's cheek. "Don't you start on my man, bitch." Marik rolled onto his feet, glancing to the side to see Malik standing tall and tense, feet apart and arm outstretched holding his wand. "Bring it, girl."

_**XxXxXxXxXxX**_

Caution be damned. Bakura drank in the almost feminine moans and gasps Ryou made as he fisted his hair, encouraging him to continue his ministrations between his legs. He shifted himself slightly, changing the way he moved, intensifying the sensations for his little lover. He revelled in the loud cries that this instigated, feeling Ryou's thighs draw up to clench around his shoulders. "K-Kura! N-no...stop...We don't have much time!"

Bakura frowned, remembering why they had to do this so quickly and sighed against Ryou's hip. He nibbled the sensitive skin there. "Next time, we're doing this properly."

All Ryou could do to respond to that was swallow around his suddenly dry mouth and wrench Bakura up to lock him into a fierce kiss, breathing deeply through his nose to soothe his nerves as he felt the fingers being removed to be replaced with something much larger. Bakura caught his chin and stared directly into his eyes. "Ready?"

_**XxXxXxXxXxX**_

Marik coughed as the wind was knocked out of him after being slammed into the wall with a repulsion charm. Malik screamed in fury at this, retaliating with a curse of his own, hitting Yami squarely in the chest.

The teen coughed and sputtered, stumbling backwards into the still-trembling Seto. Suddenly, Yami stilled and Seto rose, smirking as he drew his own wand. "Round two."

Malik huffed through his nose. "What the fuck – respawn? That can't be fair."

Marik rolled his neck and stepped back next to Malik. "We _are_ duelling two on one, you know."

"...technicality."

Marik laughed and aimed at Seto, side-stepping and flyaway curse. "Bring it."

_**XxXxXxXxXxX**_

"Ah...God..." Ryou's face scrunched in pain as Bakura entered him slowly, peppering his face with kisses in an attempt to soothe him. Once fully sheathed, Bakura stopped and waited for him to adjust.

Ryou sighed and felt a bubble of pleasure through the whirlpool of pain when Bakura shifted slightly. He squeezed his eyes shut and took in deep breaths, calming down a little, ignoring the nagging in his mind telling him that it wasn't over yet – they had to complete the pledge, and that meant carrying on to the end.

After a few moments, Ryou nodded and rolled his hips experimentally, telling Bakura to go.

_**XxXxXxXxXxX**_

Seto's face paled abruptly, his gaze directed at the ceiling. "No!" He screamed and attempted to run past Marik to the door, only to be rammed back where he came from and pinned with the same repulsion spell that he used against Marik, being disarmed at the same time by Malik. Two wands pointed at his throat as his wild eyes sought escape. His long fingers stretched out desperately towards the blonds before him, trying to touch one of them – there was nothing she could do to stop them in her frequency form, so being physical was her only chance!

_**XxXxXxXxXxX**_

He could barely breathe – he'd never felt anything so _wonderful_ in his entire life. Bakura pounded mercilessly into that spot deep inside of him, making him squirm at the sensation. He almost choked when a hand began to pump him in time to their passionate rhythm, not caring if he woke up the whole damn castle – it just felt _so good_.

_**XxXxXxXxXxX**_

Fingernails racked the wall as Seto slid down it, face contorted in agony. Malik bit his lip, reminding himself that this wasn't really Seto – sure, he hated the guy, but he wouldn't wish that amount of pain on him. The two wands followed his descent, not looking away for a moment – this was taking too long. _Come on, Ryou_.

_**XxXxXxXxXxX**_

"Ah, shit." Bakura groaned, burying his face into Ryou's hair, losing the steadiness to his thrusts as they grew faster and harder, becoming animalistic and desperate. "God...Ryou...Ry-oh!" He turned his head to press his lips against his ear. "Akemi..."

Ryou's eyes widened at the familiar name, whining at the hot swirling sensation forming in his stomach as he gripped tighter. "Ah..." He bit his lip, digging his nails into whatever they were closest to, his moans growing more and more breathless. "No...ah!" Suddenly, white stars flashed in his eyes as he released, screaming to the ceiling. "Touzo!"

_**XxXxXxXxXxX**_

Seto grew still, gazing blankly at nothing in particular. "You still choose him..." And then she was gone.

Malik dropped to a slow kneel, reluctantly ducking his head to meet the other boy's gaze. "Seto?"

He blinked and focused on Malik's face, wincing at the realisation of what he had almost done. "Fuck." He brought a hand up to his head and stumbled to his feet, glancing down at the slowly rousing form of Yami. "What...?" He blinked and shook his head, staring at Malik. "Is Ryou okay?"

Marik slung one arm over Malik's shoulders, almost possessively. "He'll be fine."

Seto nodded again and met Malik's eyes, his expression serious as he said the two words that neither of them had ever thought he'd say to him. "I'm sorry."

_**XxXxXxXxXxX**_

All was quiet as they lay in each others' arms, revelling in the afterglow and letting the knowledge that that psychopathic woman had gone forever sink in. Bakura sighed happily and brushed his hand against Ryou's naked stomach affectionately. It was only then that it occurred to Ryou. "Oh, God – I'm so sorry!" He sat up, covering his mouth with his hand.

Bakura leaned up on his elbows quickly, worried that something was seriously wrong. "What? What is it?"

Ryou shook his head and looked down at him sadly, taking his left hand and tracing the tattoo. "We completed the pledge."

Bakura frowned, watching his lover's fingers trace the design. "Wasn't that what we were aiming to do?"

"Yes, but..." Ryou swallowed nervously and looked down, ashamed. "I didn't explain everything before I got you to agree to it."

Bakura sat up fully, cupping Ryou's face lovingly. "It doesn't matter."

"It does – it does..." He pressed his hands flat against the other's broad chest, breathing in his scent deeply. "There's a reason the tattoos say 'Eternally One'. By completing the pledge, we've been bonded – for _eternity_."

Silence. "Well..." Bakura's face was blank for a minute before he grinned and pinned the smaller boy to the bed. "I guess I'll have to introduce you to my dad then!"

A small chuckle forced its way past Ryou's lips as he stared up at him in disbelief. "You're not upset? I mean, we've not even known each other a week."

"That may be so..." Bakura pressed in close so that they were chest to chest, feeling each other's every movement. "But you've made this heart beat for decades."

Ryou's breath caught, tears rolling down his face. "So, you don't mind being bound to me?"

Bakura laughed at Ryou's timidness, brushing away his tears delicately. "Not at all – I'll be yours forever."

**Cheesy ending alert!**

**If anyone is interested, the title of this chapter is what Ryou and Bakura's tattoos look like – technically, it says 'One Forever', but in Arabic 'forever' and 'eternally' can be translated to mean the same thing. **

**This isn't the end of Izumi Academy – look out for Izumi Academy – From The Ashes, the prequel (in which you will get to see why 'the woman' received the fate that she did), and Izumi Academy – Into The Embers, the sequel (in which they all graduate from Izumi Academy and begin their lives as qualified wizards – I'm probably going to focus on Marik and Malik in this one). Those two are going to be the properly M-rated series – not like this barely-there one ;P**

**Thank you everyone who stuck by this story all the way – it means the world .. x**


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